Gas Power Station

A Fife MSP will today call on the Scottish Government to back plans for a new gas-fired power station at Longannet.

The Scottish Conservatives say the move would retain hundreds of highly skilled jobs in Fife and ensure the lights don't go out.

Longannet's future looks uncertain and both Hunterston and Torness Nuclear plants are set to close.

Energy spokesman Murdo Fraser will tell MSPs that an electricity mix based purely on renewables has no future and that without new power stations there is a real danger of energy blackouts.

Mr Fraser said:
 
“We need at least one new gas-powered generating station for Scotland. And if we are not going to replace Torness and Hunterston with new nuclear capacity, we’ll probably need more than that.
 
“Not only does Longannet currently provide a quarter of Scotland’s electricity output, it is also the major buyer of coal from Scottish opencast producers.Within a decade we are going to lose 60 per cent of our electricity generating capacity, and there is simply no strategy from the SNP as to how we are going to keep the lights on after 2025.
 
“Longannet would be an ideal place for a new gas station to be located. The infrastructure is there, the skills are there and the workforce is there. If Longannet is to close, that corner of Fife would be perfect for a replacement.
 
“We need an updated energy strategy for Scotland – and we need it before the lights go out.”
 
Dunfermline and West Fife Parliamentary Candidate James Reekie said:
 
“The SNP's lack of a balanced energy policy threatens to put at risk the long term future of Longannet.
 
“Within a decade we will face an impending crisis if the Scottish Government does not commit to a new gas station in this end of Fife. We have the skills and people to make it happen. The longer the Nationalists sit on their hands the tighter the capacity margins will become and the people of  West Fife will not forgive them their aimless energy policy.”