Energy - Fraser of Allander Institute Blog

Electricity generation and transmission charges

Jamie Cox is an undergraduate economics student at the University of Strathclyde, about to start his fourth year, and has a summer internship in the Fraser of Allander Institute supported by the Research Interns@Strathclyde scheme. This blog summarises some of Jamie’s research into how electricity charges vary geographically, and in particular, how the closure of the Longannet coal fired power station in Fife in 2016 may affect the economics of renewable energy in Scotland.

In late March 2016, Longannet power station closed after providing energy for nearly half a century. The station’s closure brought about the loss of 236 jobs, with an estimated 800 indirect supply jobs also affected (figures from the Longannet Task Force Report, March 2017).

So while the closure of a coal-fired power station may be viewed as positive environmental news, on the face of it, this was negative economic news. This blog describes some research conducted at the Fraser of Allander Institute, which investigates whether there is an economic as well as environmental upside to Longannet’s closure.

The mechanism by which Longannet’s closure could have positive economic effects, is via its impact upon transmission charges.Continue reading

What might high temperatures and low rainfall mean for the Scottish economy?

Scott J. McGrane, Grant Allan and Graeme Roy

The prolonged period of warm and dry weather during June and early July is at odds with what many of us would call a “traditional Scottish summer”. These conditions however, are representative of a number of quite extraordinary global weather events that have occurred in the past few months. From the ongoing drought conditions, wildfires and subsequent flooding and landslide events that ravaged California last year, the near-miss of “day zero” in Cape Town, where dry conditions and poor water management almost resulted in no water supply being available, and the global heatwave currently impacting many countries across the globe, climatic extremes have had significant impacts on livelihoods, infrastructure and economies alike.

In this note we set out whether this is genuinely atypical weather, what the consequences have been for water in Scotland (both in terms of supply and demand), before discussing what is currently known about the links between Scotland’s economy and water. We conclude with a discussion of what this recent period might mean for the Scottish economy in a future climate in which water characteristics seen over the last few weeks may be more regular occurrences.

This is part of a new project we’re working on with colleagues at Stanford University in the US looking at the role of technology in improving environmental measurement and the potential implications for our economy.

The impact of economic downturns upon the energy transition

This blog discusses research in progress by David Comerford & Alessandro Spiganti, entitled “The Energy Trap”, which was presented at the Royal Economic Society conference at the University of Sussex on 27^th March 2018. The presentation slides can be found here. The purpose of this blog is to describe this early stage research, which is at the stage of being presented to an academic conference, to a non-technical audience.

Scotland’s record year for renewables

Yesterday, the Scottish Government published new statistics on renewable energy generation up to the end of 2017.

The figures show a significant increase in output during the final three months of last year – with 2017 now the best year on record for renewables in Scotland.

With positive economic news not always that easy to find in recent times, these numbers are clearly welcome.

There is an added benefit. Next week’s GDP numbers for Q4 2017 will include this increase in electricity generation. So the numbers should provide a significant boost to the production sector of the economy, potentially lifting the overall quarterly growth figures substantially.

A renewable future from oil and gas?

Grant Allan and Eleanor Malloy

Fraser of Allander Institute

Are oil and gas firms seeing opportunities in renewables? In this blog, we examine the responses from our latest Oil and Gas Survey, produced along with Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce.