Future Energy Needs (Scotland)

Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 3:40 pm on 1 December 2005.

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Photo of Frank Doran Frank Doran Chair, Administration Committee, Chair, Administration Committee 3:40, 1 December 2005

This is an important debate, but I am becoming a little concerned that the focus is on the nuclear industry only. It is important to widen the debate a little, particularly as Scotland is so rich in energy sources. We have coal and, as my hon. Friend Mr. Hamilton rightly said, we have oil and gas. We have hydro, wind and wave, and we might even have tidal. As colleagues said, Scotland also has a substantial chunk of the UK nuclear industry.

One big problem is that we have not always been able properly to exploit our advantages in energy. For example, we have not built a new hydro station since the late 1960s, yet the hydro stations are still functioning. The oldest one, the Foyers power station, was privately built more than 100 years ago by British Aluminium to feed its plant in the highlands. It is still functioning and producing electricity for the grid. All the stations that were built after the war in the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board area are still functioning. They are producing clean, low-cost energy.