I note a fascinating article in the Guardian that suggested that parts of England might run out if water within twenty years. This is, apparently, the view of the Public Accounts Committee.
That's pretty scary.
But think for a moment about the political connotations. Scotland and Wales will not be running out of water. And Scotland, in particular, could be a renewable energy hot spot as well.
Now put this in the context of the viability of each as independent counties. That's when it gets interesting.
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“Too wee, too poor, too stupid”, too wet and too windy.
Interesting, too, that the water supply system in Scotland was never privatised. Little likelyhood that the proceeds to come will end up in obscure accounts in the tax havens.
I was present when the idea of selling water to England was raised with officials at Scottish Water (a few years ago). They were of the view that if the English water companies prioritized leaks over profit, the problem of water shortages would be solved. However if a shortfall developed, there is enough water in North England to fill any deficit in the south. I would not be expecting a pipeline to England in the next wee while.
Agreed Gerard, I’m out of touch now, but there were aspects of the privatised water sector in England which were bonkers to an engineer but made perfect sense to bean-counter management. If I recall correctly one company had over 50% leakage in it’s supply network but deemed it not cost-effective to repair, complete with the annual theatrics of a hosepipe bans on interviews on the TV with shrugging shoulders.
The problem is most acute in the south of England with stressed aquifers and ever increasing population, and although desalination makes more sense technically, it is a high energy demand process, and they’re short of that utility also.
The politically driven strategy of energy and utility conservation disappeared in the late 60s, perhaps 60 years later it is due a reprise…
Water de-salination plants anyone?
If so, public or private? English or U.S. owned?
I know how I’d like it to be.
Renewable energy is an issue in constitutional politics now. The project director of the proposed Moray West offshore wind farm off the Aberdeenshire coast, has called for immediate reform to address the problem of unfair grid transmission costs (today’s Scotsman https://archive.is/kAL23).
The Transmission Network Use of System (TNUoS) charge “risks making projects that are more distant from population centres prohibitively expensive as it increases costs to generators depending on how far they are from the big demand centres in the south-east of the UK.”
It is near impossible to win CfD auctions for renewables when production costs have reduced by more than a factor of 3, and the TNUoS remains high – “When renewables were £150/MWhr, TNUoS represented only about 4 per cent of the cost per unit generated in the north, and could be absorbed”, but at sub-£50/MWhr the TNUoS represents 17% of the cost.
A more level playing field is vital for the development of Scottish renewables – vital for the Scottish economy and for meeting Scotland’s target of net-zero emissions by 2045. Given Scotland’s access to renewable energy sources, this would also benefit the UK target.
On the political front, the current situation hardly fits the unionist rhetoric about the so-called UK single market.
Well said, George. Independent Scotland will maintain and develop its own part of the grid and supply our neighbours on the same basis that France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway supply them. We should develop our own interconnector with Norway too, and the Iceland interconnector should also be looked at.
Infrastructure investment is always good, and worth borrowing the money to do. People tend not to think enough about multiplier effects… With a beefed up electricity supply and electricity transmission (and storage) grid, we could switch to electric cars (and trains throughout our country!), and decarbonize our economy that much faster.
Good news that this iniquity is being addressed. The island is only about 800 miles long and electricity travels at 186000 miles/second.
For how long has the Post Office been able to charge a flat rate for the whole UK? If it can do it, why can’t the National Grid?
London-centred thinking at work again?
Good point Phil, although “being addressed” might be a slight exaggeration. So-called Cybernats have been calling this out for ages. The Scottish Government needs to get tough – perhaps we should turn off the supply of renewable energy until the rules are changed.
Raises the issue of course both of development policies – allowing a huge increase in population in the dry South East rather than wetter areas, and why dont we have a population policy because these days its people not industry using water and we seem to be running out
From Wikipedia article on Loch Ness
It contains more water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined,[4] and is the largest body of water in the Great Glen, which runs from Inverness in the north to Fort William in the south.