November 6, 2011
Scotland

Drive for green energy will tear Scotland apart

By Euan Duguid, The Sunday Post, www.thesundaypost.co.uk 6 November 2011

Scotland’s race for wind power will create a growing gulf between the rich and the poor.

That’s the damning message from Struan Stevenson MEP in the latest attack on the SNP Government’s “scandalous” drive for green energy.

Last week a major bank warned that electricity bills will more than double under Alex Salmond’s plan to build an independent Scotland on green power.

Citigroup claimed that bills would soar by an average of £875 per household if the country goes it alone and pursues SNP plans to invest billions of pounds in wave and wind power.

And later this week Mr Stevenson, Conservative Euro MP for Scotland, is set to tell delegates at the first national conference aimed at challenging windfarms that a select few are lining their pockets as ordinary Scots face crippling fuel bills.

In a speech seen by The Sunday Post and to be presented at the Scottish National Windfarm Conference in Ayr on Friday, Mr Stevenson will state: “What we are witnessing is a dramatic transfer of money from the poor to the rich; from the beleaguered consumers to the wealthy estate owners and power companies.

“The most vulnerable people in society will be forced to choose between food or fuel.

Mr Stevenson will also tell more than 300 delegates: “The big power companies are raking it in and posting profits that have soared to billions every single year.

“It is estimated that Britons will face an extra £500 on their fuel bills over the next four years to meet the crazy climate change targets.

“The main driver for this disaster is the crazily generous ROCS (Renewable Obligation Certificates) and feed-in tariffs that throw money at power companies and landowners.

“That’s why Scottish and UK landowners are so keen to have their farms and estates industrialised by windfarms.

“The Duke of Roxburghe will net £720,000 a year from his 48 giant 400ft high turbines at Fallago Rig in the beautiful Lammermuir Hills.

“Sir Alastair Gordon-cumming will earn £435,000 annually from 29 giant turbines on his Altyre Estate near Forres in Moray.”

Mr Stevenson continues: “The money pours in each year, whether the turbines are operating or not.

“A total of £ 9,453,249 was paid out to energy companies in September alone to keep their turbines switched off because the grid was overloaded! “This is scandalous.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Bills are already rising due to volatile wholesale fuel prices, while renewables incentives currently add around £15 to annual household utility bills in Scotland, a tiny sum in comparison to recent price hikes.

“It is a scandal that any fuel poverty at all should exist in an energy- rich country like Scotland.

“We continue to do everything we can to invest in energy efficiency and fuel poverty schemes – which simply reinforces the urgent case for this country gaining full responsibility for its own vast energy resources.”