Much as I said at the last election in 2007, if you are working in the energy sector or have an interest in it then how you vote in the Scottish elections on May 5 is very important.
So once again I’m offering some help and guidance on who to vote for – or not.
Unlike 2007, however, there is less humour.
Austerity, the price of fuel and Osborne’s tax hike aren’t things that make me laugh a lot, but then neither do the reasons behind why he’s doing the things he is.
Firstly though the declarations of interest.
I am not a member of any political party, but I am a member of the Scottish Government’s Energy Advisory Board and have been since late 2009.
Whichever party wins in May I hope it continues, because it was an extremely useful and often lively forum for exchanging ideas and thoughts on policy initiatives, technologies and so on and so forth.
Sadly, they never gave us lunch.
Anyway, having actually read each party’s manifesto, here are my general impressions.
I’m restricting my comments to the four main parties, which does not mean I’ve nothing to say about the Greens.
On the contrary, I actually have a sneaky respect for them, but they really need to understand that the big threat isn’t climate change but a lack of generation capacity and particularly a dearth of liquid fuels.
Conservatives
Let’s start with the Scottish Conservatives whose energy policy statement is surprisingly brief.
They support marine energy, are in favour of carbon capture and sequestration and support the idea that their chums at Westminster should use their CCS funding pot to support the proposed project at Longannet.
However, the Tories are also in favour of nuclear energy and intend amending National Planning Framework 2, in order to designate the replacement of existing nuclear power generating capacity as National Developments.
Reading between the lines, that means that replacement nuclear power stations may not have to apply for planning permission and nobody can object to their being built.
I don’t like that because I’m not pro nuclear.
Or rather I’m not pro the sort of dirty waste producing nuclear we are most likely to see built here, but I keep an open mind with regard to the potentially more efficient reactor designs, such as thorium based, that are potentially a lot simpler, safer and produce much less nasty waste.
Anyway, without subsidies, which the Westminster government is currently refusing to give, it seems unlikely anybody will build any new reactors.
My verdict on the Scots Tories?
Underwhelming, not very convincing and visionless.
No mention of wind or other technologies nor indeed the UKCS, which perhaps given their man Osborne’s recent kick in the teeth for the oil/gas sector, is perhaps no surprise.
Lib Dems
Now to the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Sadly, they’ve entitled their offering Making Scotland a Global Leader on Climate Change, which means they also haven’t understood that energy security is much more important and very much today’s problem, whereas the consequences of climate change are problems for the relatively distant future.
But they are opposed to nuclear power and support everything else.
They are also setting a target to generate the equivalent of 100% of Scotland’s electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2025, and say they will provide new support to companies developing marine, hydro and biomass renewable energy technologies.
That’s a good thing, but of course support is available already and they don’t tell us what will be “new”.
Verdict? The manifesto lacks detail so is a bit vague, but their heart is roughly in the right place.
Labour
Now Labour who have said they will “remove the presumption against new nuclear for the future”.
What does that mean exactly? It’s hardly a ringing endorsement, nor does it indicate real support.
I actually spoke to their energy spokesperson specifically about their plan to set up a new organisation called Energy Scotland, into which they intend integrating existing initiatives.
The aim is that it should “provide streamlined strategic leadership and funding and will pull together different streams, such as research and development, to improve energy technology and skills in the workforce”.
Labour also say they will encourage the construction of a wholly new infrastructure for electric vehicles, with a target for 10,000 charging points in major towns and cities by 2015.
I’m sorry but that’s risible.
For starters very few people in Scotland are going to buy battery-powered EVs in that time frame, but that apart this means Labour would have to install around 20 charging points every day for the next three years. OK – it’s a target not a pledge, but all the same I really don’t think they’ve thought that one through, which is more than a little worrying.
Verdict? Nuclear is unlikely to happen and Energy Scotland will be a classic Labour bureaucratic centralised nightmare and will fail miserably.
Anyway, we’ve had enough reorganisation already (remember the ITIs) and we really don’t have the time to spare for any more.
SNP
Finally, let’s look at the SNP, who are of course opposed to nuclear but intend increasing their 2020 target for the generation of electricity from renewable sources to 100%.
That’s very ambitious but again it’s a target not a pledge.
However, the 100% figure is in itself less important than the fact that it creates a challenge for our industry and investors to get behind, knowing they will have Scottish Government support.
Is it achievable? Yes, it’s achievable providing we get on with it.
The SNP will continue to provide R&D support for industry and universities and has created the Scottish Energy Laboratory to improve collaboration across Scotland’s energy research, test and demonstration facilities.
It’s a virtual organisation so no additional bureaucracy.
Verdict? The SNP has a vision and with this and their other policies, such as the North Sea Supergrid then, unlike the other parties, I genuinely think they get the whole “energy thing”.
They also clearly understand the impact of Osborne’s UKCS tax hike and will work to reverse that.
So I will be voting SNP again. It’s not just their enthusiasm and vision, but in reality there isn’t actually much of an alternative. I’m afraid the others seem to just not get the “energy thing”.
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