An influential committee of MPs has backed calls for the creation of a North Sea “supergrid” to help unlock the equivalent of 1billion barrels of oil each year from offshore renewable technology.
The report by Westminster’s energy and climate change committee said the network could be a “stepping stone” to a grid linked to the rest of Europe.
Up to 280 windfarms are expected to be built in the North Sea over the next two decades, but improved connections are needed to ensure the industry’s huge potential can be realised.
A supergrid could solve costly problems linked to transferring electricity from the north to the south of the UK and the exportation of energy across the continent.
Inefficiencies in the current system were highlighted in May when six Scottish windfarms were paid hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation after being forced to shut down because it was too windy and the National Grid became overloaded.
The committee described the case as “utterly unacceptable” but just yesterday the National Grid expected to have to cut 500MW of wind power energy generated in Scotland because high winds were due to create a surplus overnight.
The report, published today, puts pressure on the UK government to move forward with the multibillion-pound European supergrid plan, to help create tens of thousands of jobs and cut 25% from the cost of connecting offshore windfarms.
“A powerful case has been made for an integrated offshore supergrid in the North Sea linking potential renewable sources of energy,” it concluded.
The committee also said transmission problems were turning a profitable resource into a “potential liability”, and public scepticism about renewables would increase unless it was addressed.
The Scottish Government has also called for the creation of a supergrid in the North Sea.
SNP energy and business spokesman Mike Weir, MP for Angus, said: “I think the UK Government need to get a grip and start serious discussions with European neighbours to get a supergrid up and running.”
Sir Robert Smith, senior member of the Commons energy and climate change committee, and MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, said: “There is a big renewable resource in the north and north-east and this would help to unlock it.”
Catherine Birkbeck, grid and markets policy manager for Scottish Renewables, said: “The north of Scotland plays a significant role in helping us realise our ambitions of generating the equivalent of 100% of our electricity demand from renewable sources by 2020.
“Locating the European supergrid here would build upon our global lead by attracting significant investment and creating employment for local communities.”
Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross John Thurso said: “It is exactly the kind of investment for the industry that the government should be making.”