LibDems make case for local power supplies
"Every Scottish town should have its own power supplies, running off renewable sources and avoiding the need for the waste of energy at large out-of-town power stations," according to the Liberal Democrats.
The plan was put forward yesterday by Nicol Stephen, the Scottish LibDem leader, as a manifesto proposal for next May's election. It is aimed at avoiding the need for new nuclear plants, and is part of Mr Stephen's claim that Scotland's entire power supply can come from renewable fuel sources by 2050.
The idea would be for towns the size of Ayr, Falkirk or Livingston to have a town power station, burning renewably-grown biomass such as forestry waste.
Known as district heat and power plants, they are already used in American cities and Scandinavia - including the city of Oslo - with many of them being situated where replacement, large-scale power plants had faced opposition on environmental grounds.
It is thought large carbon-burning power stations lose more than 60% of their energy potential before it even reaches the transmission lines. A heat and power plant was recently opened at the Caledonian paper mill in Irvine, cutting by 85% the plant's carbon emissions through conventional energy.
According to Mr Stephen, the plan would help tackle fuel poverty and polluting emissions. He said: "If we are to succeed in ending fuel poverty we must look to renewable sources of heat that would be cheaper to the consumer and to the environment."
"Cutting the cost of fuel, both to the consumer and the environment, can be achieved by having electricity and heat generated as close as possible to the people needing it. He comntinued, "At the moment more than 60% of the energy from big, remote fossil fuel power stations goes up the chimney as wasted heat."
"By generating on a smaller scale, locally, this heat can be piped to homes and businesses directly. By using combined heat and power, we can double the efficiency of fossil fuels and make existing reserves last longer. But as quickly as possible, we need to see a switch to renewable sources and burning biomass in these plants instead".
The LibDem pledge is to enable local power generation in every community in Scotland, using combined heat and power plants, district heating systems, air and ground heat pumps, biomass, storage cells, and networks of hydrogen fuel pumps.
