For some time Prospect has been raising the issue of the lack of forward planning in electricity generation. The Union has campaigned to highlight the rapidly narrowing gap between the amount of electricity the UK needs at maximum demand and the amount that the UK can generate at maximum output. At present this gap could be as low as 1%

As old coal fired power stations and old nuclear stations are closed then the gap will continue to shrink. Today's IME report projects a position in 10 years time where demand will oustrip supply by 50%. The withdrawl of Government support for the Peterhead Carbon Capture scheme simply increases the problem

In recent years Scotland has lost power stations at Peterhead and Cockenzie, in March the giant station at Longannet will close. This leaves Scotland more and more reliant in intermittent wind generation,  the two ageing nuclear stations at Hunterston and Torness, and on imported energy from England. As more power stations close in England the situation if the wind doesn't blow for a protracted period are very serious, particularly during periods of planned closure (called "outages") at the Nuclear Stations. There are no plans to build any replacement power stations in the short to medium term

The closure of Longannet, linked to the identified supply problems, exacerbates the potential for problems with what is know as "blackstart". If due to supply problems the electricty network powers down it's not possible to simply turn it back on. The system needs to be re-energised in a planned way. Once Longannet closes there is no tested method for doing this in Scotland and senior officials in the industry are worried that power cuts during a "blackstart" could last as long as 6 days with massive implications for the economy and domestic customers

Prospect Negotiator Richard Hardy said "we have repeatedly raised the issue of lack of supply and blackstart issues in Scotland with both the Holyrood and Westminster Governments, we are very concerned that the  the market is not delivering the level of investment in supply sources that are not reliant on the weather. , and we very much welcome the IME's report and input to the debate"