Renewable energy blow as cable cost hits £700M
Express.co.uk|Kerry Gill|November 6, 2012
The Scottish Government's plans for renewable energy were dealt a crushing blow yesterday. It emerged the cost of the vital undersea cable to bring power from the Western Isles has spiralled to at least £700million.
The Scottish Government's plans for renewable energy were dealt a crushing blow yesterday. It emerged the cost of the vital undersea cable to bring power from the Western Isles has spiralled to at least £700million.
The Scottish Government's plans for renewable energy were dealt a crushing blow yesterday.
It emerged the cost of the vital undersea cable to bring power from the Western Isles has spiralled to at least £700million.
The price of the cable from the islands to the mainland is to rise by a staggering 75 per cent, with the Government admitting that it was "very concerned" by the increase.
It added that the development of renewable energy on the islands was now in "very real jeopardy".
The shock rise has thrown the Government's plans into disarray, and leaves a question mark over the giant Lewis wind farm, given consent only a few weeks ago.
We are very disappointed that the costs appear to be continuing to rise and are very …
... more [truncated due to possible copyright]The Scottish Government's plans for renewable energy were dealt a crushing blow yesterday.
It emerged the cost of the vital undersea cable to bring power from the Western Isles has spiralled to at least £700million.
The price of the cable from the islands to the mainland is to rise by a staggering 75 per cent, with the Government admitting that it was "very concerned" by the increase.
It added that the development of renewable energy on the islands was now in "very real jeopardy".
The shock rise has thrown the Government's plans into disarray, and leaves a question mark over the giant Lewis wind farm, given consent only a few weeks ago.
We are very disappointed that the costs appear to be continuing to rise and are very concerned that the slippage exposes the project to further cost increases
Only last week, First Minister Alex Salmond announced his goal of generating the equivalent of half of Scotland's electricity needs from renewable energy by 2015.
The rise, confirmed by Scottish Hydro Electric, a subsidiary of energy giant SSE, has shocked Western Isles Islands Council, whose leader, Angus Campbell, has called for an immediate inquiry.
Scottish Hydro said hopes of completing the cable and the £75million-worth of infrastructure needed on Lewis in 2015 could be delayed for 12 months or even longer.
Mr Campbell said questions needed to be asked about the costs and time scale of the important link to the mainland.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "We are very disappointed that the costs appear to be continuing to rise and are very concerned that the slippage exposes the project to further cost increases.
"More importantly, it puts development of renewable energy on the Western Isles in very real jeopardy."
Scottish Hydro said the company was committed to working towards achieving timely, cost effective investment in the transmission system in the north of Scotland.