Experts blow hot and cold on renewables

Although the Scottish government believes 26,000 jobs could be created in the renewable-energy sector in the coming decade, not everyone is convinced.

The Adam Smith Institute, a free-market think tank based in London, produced a report last month casting doubt on claims that wind and solar energy could meet the UK's energy needs.

Although the green energy trade association Scottish Renewables branded the research "flawed" and "one-sided", the report encapsulated many sceptics' fears about the drive towards alternative energy.

In the report, Renewable Energy: Vision or Mirage?, the institute argued that wind and solar energy could not replace gas, coal or nuclear power because their ability to generate electricity was intermittent and they needed storage technology that was not realistically available.

The need for back-up to these sources made carbon dioxide reductions modest, said the report, adding that UK targets for wind energy contribution by 2020 would require the installation of five turbines a day between now and then.

The report also argued that the decommissioning of coal-fired and nuclear power stations over the coming decade was a threat to energy security, and that solar and wind energy had "no prospect of becoming economically competitive in an unrigged market".

"For too long, we have been told that heavy investment in uneconomic renewable energy was not only necessary but would provide a secure future electricity supply," said Martin Livermore, a co-author of the report.

"The facts actually show that current renewables technologies are incapable of making a major contribution to energy security and - despite claims to the contrary - have only limited potential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions."

However, Niall Stuart, the chief executive of Scottish Renewables, disagreed. "The report is full of serious flaws and oversights … The authors completely overlook the latest evidence on cost showing that large-scale onshore wind is already cheaper than nuclear, with large reductions in the costs of all renewables in the future."