Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Nicola Sturgeon urges UK Government to review security of Scotland’s electricity supply

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to David Cameron urging for a review to be carried out.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to David Cameron urging for a review to be carried out.

The First Minister has written to David Cameron urging the UK Government to review the security of Scotland’s electricity supply.

Nicola Sturgeon said UK energy policy was compromising energy security north of the border and called on the Prime Minister to act.

Her letter follows concerns raised by industry experts at a meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board.

Scottish generators, including Longannet power station, account for around 12% of the capacity connected to Britain’s high-voltage electricity network – but pay around 35% of the charges, according to the Scottish Government.

Last year it emerged that Longannet may be forced to close due to what the operator Scottish Power described as “disproportionately high” transmission charges to connect to the main grid network.

Ms Sturgeon said: “It was clear from the meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board today that industry experts are concerned about security of supply in Scotland and across the UK, and for the continued maintenance of electricity supplies in a robust manor.

“These issues need to be assessed and that is why I am calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to act.

“It is vital that the UK Government fulfils its statutory responsibility to monitor security of supply issues and does so in an open and transparent way.

“The actions we have proposed would enable proper public scrutiny of the situation in Scotland.”

The letter calls on the UK Government to carry out an analysis of electricity capacity margins in Scotland.

It states: “The Scottish Government cannot accept a situation where levels of energy security in Scotland are compromised by energy policy and network operation decisions taken outside Scotland.

“It is for this reason we ask the UK Government to initiate a dedicated capacity assessment for Scotland, informed by stakeholder views, and take steps to transfer to the Scottish Parliament the authority to set our own national reliability standard for electricity.

“Together these measures would help to create the conditions necessary to incentivise investment in new thermal capacity in Scotland.”

Ms Sturgeon said Energy Minister Fergus Ewing would also be seeking urgent talks with National Grid chief executive Steve Holliday.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: “Thefuture of Longannet is a commercial matter for Scottish Power.

“The Department for Energy and Climate Change takes security of supply very seriously and has worked with National Grid to put in place an effective plan to secure electricity supply.

“National Grid have confirmed they will be able to meet demand and maintain system stability in Scotland – with or without Longannet.”