Small is beautiful

Liberal Democrats have called for greater emphasis to be placed on energy generation being localised as they debated their blueprint for Scotland’s energy future at the party conference in Perth today.

A panel of experts considered the challenges presented by climate change in setting out a vision for Scotland’s energy future.

Commenting after the motion was passed, Liberal Democrat Energy spokesperson Liam McArthur said:

“Scotland has excellent natural resources and world leading skills and research capabilities. We are well placed to capitalise on the economic benefits of green energy.

“Our panel of experts have made recommendations that will help inform the party’s energy policy in the years ahead. This report identifies ways in which we can reduce harmful emissions while at the same time safeguarding energy security and tackling the scourge of fuel poverty.

“We believe there needs to be a move away from large-scale centralised energy generation in favour of a network of community scale plants, close to the point of demand.

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This would see everyday buildings playing host to devices like solar panels, small wind turbines and combined heat and power boilers, which generate electricity as well as providing heat and hot water.

The electricity created would be used directly by the house or workplace and any surplus fed into a local network for local distribution.

“These radical plans to decentralise our energy system should be supported by feed-in tariffs and a new “smart grid” to better connect and integrate new, clean and localised energy technologies.

As well as helping manage demand for energy more effectively, this approach would enable households, businesses and communities to take more control in how their energy needs are met.”