Gordon Stewart, partner and head of renewables with land agents Bidwells, has warned that growth in renewable energy developments should not be allowed to slip as energy prices are slashed.
Energy watchdog Ofgem had said “the UK’s margin of power capacity over demand is expected to be just 4% this winter and could fall to less than 2% next year.”
This was perilously close to a position where the “lights would go out”, said Mr Stewart.
With planned decommissioning of fossil fuel fired plants and any new nuclear power plants many years away, large scale renewable power developments had much to commend them.
Progress had been remarkable in Scotland with installed renewable capacity increasing from 2,700 mW in 2007 to just over 7,000 mW in 2014 but future expansion would depend on political support and that would not become clear until after the general election.
At a press briefing in Perth, Mr Stewart said: “We have to ask key questions about why the renewable energy sector feels threatened about its place in the energy market post-2017.
“I would suggest this should make the public feel uneasy,” he said.
Mr Stewart did, however, admit that opinions varied widely.
Consumers blame increasing energy bills on renewables and had they become increasingly critical of the additional costs brought about by “green” policies.
In fact he believed these were not as great as many people thought with only around 5% of the extra gas costs and 14% of the extra electricity costs linked to renewable incentives.
The general public, he believed, was now split between those who simply did not like the visual impact on their community and those who benefited from local community funds.
These were now running at around £18.4m annually and could give a very significant boost to rural areas.
Economists were equally divided.
They saw the continued level of subsidy for renewables as being not sustainable which Mr Stewart acknowledged was true.
But at the same time the economics of new nuclear power stations was questionable with guaranteed prices needed for 30 to 40 years to encourage investment.
Putting the case for on-shore wind power, Mr Stewart said: “The current installed wind sector now saves the UK on average 11 million tonnes of carbon per year and the success of onshore wind means that this technology is already the cheapest decarbonisation option.
“It is true that energy from renewable sources continues to be expensive and relies on subsidies but further development is the key to bringing these costs down while meeting our renewable energy targets.”