It began with Scottish Power itself showily opting the plant out of the government’s capacity market auction in October last year, saying that unless changes were made to the “punitive” transmission charges levelled against Scottish generators it couldn’t guarantee it would be around long enough to make good on the deal. The company’s financial reports later the same month made the point again: even though it has invested more than £200 million in recent years, including £20-£30 million last summer on boiler upgrades, the future of its Fife-based plant had “come under question”, it said.
This year, the run-up to the hotly contested general election has provided the Scottish National Party the ideal platform to drive its “us-and-them” political rhetoric: set south of the border, unfair and crippling transmission charges are disadvantaging Scottish generators and now threaten more than 400 Scottish jobs too. Stern speeches were delivered, strongly-worded letters written.
But that’s not to say that protestations from those with a vested interested in the Longannet problem don’t also happen to be justified.
As the dust settles on National Grid’s Scottish Power snub, the very real issues over transmission charges remain, and are demanding redress with a more unified pan-technology voice. Few would imagine a renewables lobby group bemoaning the closure of a very old and vey polluting coal-fired power plant, for example. But even Scottish Renewables has entered the fray, incredulous that “ludicrously punitive” charges are allowed to have such permanent consequences for generators.
It would be a mistake to view the Longannet furore as an isolated source of outrage. But it is one that will throw the debate into sharp relief as talks between the Scottish government, National Grid and Ofgem rumble on.
The Scottish energy sector is determined to be heard – and more than ever the UK is now listening.