Our own power supply

This is a personal view based on my working lifetime’s experience as a power station engineer, including 12 years in the renewables division of a major utility.

Vast gas and oil deposits are situated off the coast of Shetland and have been/will be flowing ashore at Sullom Voe.

It is absurd that we should be barred from using these for our own energy needs.

Shetland should be supplied with electricity from a gas-fired power station, either, at Lerwick or Sullom Voe, the location depending on considerations of cost and security of supply.

Gas supplies should be available direct from Sullom Voe to a local gas distribution plant for mains supplies (where viable) and bulk/bottled supplies throughout Shetland, creating the potential for exports to Faroe and Iceland.

Renewable energy schemes should be restricted to where it is cost-competitive and/or the prevailing conditions demand it.

Insulating homes, while unlikely to be cost-effective, impacts very positively on quality of life and require subsidy that should come from direct taxation.

Subsidising otherwise unviable renewable energy and home insulation from consumers’ electricity bills simply adds to the ballooning problem of fuel poverty.

The only thing preventing us from doing all this is the lack of local self-governing powers.

John Tulloch
Lyndon
Arrochar