The National Grid has dismissed claims there could be blackouts in Britain due to energy supply shortages as “scaremongering”.
It acknowledged that electricity margins – spare supply over peak demand – were tighter than in previous years, but insisted that the market was working well to respond.
Its head of electricity system operation, Nigel Williams, played down the risk even if margins fell to 2.5% next winter, down from 15% in 2011-12 due to ageing coal-fired power plants being shut across the UK.
He insisted the National Grid was prepared because the tight periods were just a few half hours a year.
“The market works well in terms of making generation available for us to dispatch,” Williams said.
The Scottish Government, which has a target of generating 100% of electricity through renewables by 2020, has claimed the UK would be reliant on this country for energy post-independence.
The UK Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change showed 40.3% of energy consumption in 2012 in Scotland was met by the sector – up from 36.3% in 2011 and 24.1% in 2010.
“Scotland exports 26% of the electricity generated here, so it is fair to say it is critical when it comes to keeping the lights on in the UK,” said Caithness, Sutherland and Ross SNP MSP Rob Gibson.
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