Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the oral Answer of 19 March 2015 from the Minister of State for Energy, when he plans to publish the advice he has received on the effect on security of supply of the potential closure of Longannet.

National Grid expects the market to provide enough generation to meet demand and maintain system stability in Scotland – even if one or more major fossil fuelled plant closes. The system operator and transmission owners in Scotland (National Grid, Scottish Power Transmission and Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission) have stress tested scenarios in which Longannet and other Scottish fossil fuelled generators closed. National Grid has the tools to secure supplies under even the toughest system conditions, and the network is resilient against 1 in 600 year risks.

National Grid has published the advice that it provided to the Secretary of State and the Scottish government on this issue on their website this week. This information contains a description of the scenarios that have been tested, ‘A day in the life’ which shows that Scottish demand was secure on a low wind, high demand day, even if two large fossil fuelled power stations had not been available and an open letter providing reassurance on the status of electricity supply in Scotland:

http://www2.nationalgrid.com/UK/Services/Balancing-services/System-security/Transmission-Constraint-Management/Transmission-Constraint-Management-Information/.