THE generation claims for tidal energy (“Tidal turbine produces a record amount of energy”, The Herald, August 22) do not carry data on the capital costs of delivering the output to match plant such as that of the former units at Cockenzie. Alasdair Allan MSP has said that “experts have confirmed that renewables will soon be more cost-effective than nuclear” without reference to the economic data.
Hinkley Point C (HPC), with a capital cost of £20 billion, will generate around 27 TWhours of electricity a year based on a load factor of 95 per cent. There would need to be around 12,000 MW of wind turbines installed to match that of HPC. At £2 million per MW that is a capital cost of £24bn.
In addition, HPC could generate for 80 years hence to match the lifetime output of 2,160 TWhours. The 12,000 MW wind farm would need to be replaced three times, giving a total capital cost of £96bn. HPC can generate even if the wind fails to blow.
Ian Moir,
79 Queen Street, Castle Douglas.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel