THE problem with a new energy "super highway" flowing south out of Scotland "isn’t that it’s going to England", but instead about who will benefit, experts have said.
On Tuesday, it was announced that the 500-kilometre Eastern Green Link 2 (EGL2) will connect Peterhead in Aberdeenshire to Drax in North Yorkshire with construction planned to start later this year for completion in 2029.
However, the announcement sparked some criticism, with Alba warning the new link would siphon Scottish renewable power “from under our noses”.
Many were left wondering why Scotland can't seemingly take greater advantage of this, particularly when fuel poverty rates in the country increased to 31% of all households in 2022, according to the latest Scottish House Condition Survey.
The Sunday National has spoken with two experts who gave their thoughts on the new project.
What will the project do?
Delivered as a joint venture by National Grid and SSEN Transmission, EGL2 will transport vast amounts of renewable energy between Scotland and England after being approved by the energy regulator.
Most of the 311-mile cable will be laid under the North Sea, while the rest will be underground onshore.
Professor Paul de Leeuw of Robert Gordon University, who has over 33 years’ experience in the global energy sector, explained: “I think it’s important to look at the bigger context.
"By any reasonable measure, electricity demand is likely to double over the next 25 years, that’s a huge increase, particularly when it comes to trying to get to net zero and reduce emissions.
“We need somehow to connect supply and demand and you need a number of connections to make sure we do that.”
Despite being able to carry electricity in both directions, the majority from the link is still expected to flow out of Scotland.
It marks the biggest investment in electricity transmission infrastructure in the UK, costing around £4.3 billion.
De Leeuw continued: “What has happened is international markets determine the price of a commodity. Russia invading Ukraine had a massive impact on the regional energy market.
“What we’re trying to build is one which is environmentally better but also more resilient and give us more energy security.
“We can repurpose the North Sea to be a multi-energy base. We can see wind power, energy storage, carbon capture storage.
“But it is about putting the right policy framework in place, the right incentive and if we do it right then we end up with more jobs and more investment. This is a big opportunity and it is massive if we get it right.
“The outcome is a better energy system, it’s low-carbon, it gives you far more resilience and energy security.
“We should get a greener, cleaner and hopefully lower-cost energy system and, if we get it right, everybody wins.
“If we don’t have a super highway and can’t get the electricity to where the demand is, we don’t see jobs or connectivity. There’s no point building it if you can’t do anything with it so I believe there’s a huge benefit to Scotland."
Moving electricity to England
Dr Ewan Gibbs, a historian of energy with the University of Glasgow, said he did not feel the issue with the super highway was that electricity was being transported to England.
He told the Sunday National: “You know, if Scotland’s going to be an energy powerhouse and generate surplus electricity, then it’s going to end up in England. That’s a logical place for it to go.
“It’s a densely populated country that needs it. I don’t think that’s a problem and surely it’s beneficial for Scotland to enjoy that sort of infrastructure.”
According to figures released this year, Scotland’s green sector delivered more electricity than Scotland used for the first time in 2022
Renewable technologies generated the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s overall electricity consumption that year.
However, according to Advice Direct Scotland, Scottish households are still paying hundreds of pounds for more gas and electricity than they were before the energy crisis hit, despite Ofgem lowering the energy price cap to £1568 from July 1.
The advice bureau said this is still £430 more than the amount households were being charged before the energy crisis hit in the autumn of 2021.
Meanwhile, 791,000 households faced fuel poverty in 2022, of which 472,000 were in extreme fuel poverty.
For Gibbs, this comes back to a question of who it is that’s really benefitting from Scotland’s energy potential.
“Most people in Scotland who aren’t large shareholders aren’t enjoying these benefits. If we’re going to be critical of the system, it’s about controlling ownership,” he said.
“The problem isn’t that it’s going to England, the problem is who’s benefitting from that.
"The electricity system is ran for profit, by companies that emerged out of the privatisation of the British system, including companies like Scottish Power, that are now owned from the Basque Country.”
Scottish Power, for example, is part of the Iberdrola group which is based in Bilbao.
De Leeuw, who feels the same as Gibbs, believes the super highway will help to provide energy security in the long-term.
“The electricity these wind farms generate has to go somewhere, so the existing onshore grid is not capable of handling that so we need to re-enforce and strengthen and add to the onshore grid,” he said.
Gibbs continued: “We need to look at private ownership and ending private ownership, look at the price levels we allow companies to charge and consider where the profits from electricity generation are going.
“There’s questions about supply chains and industrial benefits and again Scotland is not receiving the benefit that it should be there.
“Most wind turbines aren’t made in Scotland, and that’s about international supply chains, but it’s also about ownership and control of our resources and we’ve not organised sufficient controls to guide activity to this country.”
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: “Ofgem is fully committed to supporting the Government to meet its aims of getting clean power by 2030.
“This announcement is a further step in putting the regulatory systems and processes in place to speed up network regulation to achieve its aim.”
