SCOTLAND'S dash for green power would "grind to a halt" if the country became independent, Labour's shadow energy secretary has warned.
Writing in The Herald, Caroline Flint said the best way to unlock Scotland's "immense" renewable energy potential was within a shared UK market.
She said: "About one-third of total British investment in renewable energy comes to Scotland.
"But Scottish consumers contribute less than one-tenth of the cost of the support for clean energy.
"I can't make decisions today about what might happen years from now in a world in which Scotland has exited the UK.
"But, in all honesty, if Scotland votes to leave the UK and I am Energy Secretary after the next election, I can't see why consumers in England and Wales would carry on subsidising investment in what would be a foreign country."
She added: "Independence would mean losing the British renewable subsidy, threatening investment and raising the cost to consumers or taxpayers.
"The investment in clean energy that has created so many new jobs, as well as supported existing industries, would grind to a halt."
Ms Flint, a former minister for Europe in Gordon Brown's government, cited a report by international bank Citigroup which
warned household energy bills in Scotland would have to rise by £875 per year if the burden of investing in renewables fell on Scottish consumers alone."
The SNP claims an independent Scotland would remain part of an integrated energy market with the UK.
First Minister Alex Salmond has argued that the rest of the UK would need to support and buy green power produced in Scotland in order to meet targets to cut carbon emissions.
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