A GLOBAL energy consultancy has warned that investment in renewable energy “will start to dry up” if subsidies drop after independence.
AF-Mercados told a UK Parliament committee that power firms cannot assume they will be get the same level of financial support as there is now.
The organisation also doubts that England and Wales would continue to buy renewable energy from an independent Scotland, contradicting a statement by First Minister Alex Salmond.
The Scottish Government said AF-Mercados’s claims are “simply wrong” and argued that a single energy market would continue if independence is backed at the ballot box in 2014.
In a submission to the Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee, AF-Mercados stated: “In the event of independence for Scotland, renewable generators north of the border cannot assume that they will be able to continue enjoying the level of subsidies they receive at present. Once investors realise this, it can be expected that investment in renewables north of the border will start to dry up.
“The public position of the First Minister in November 2011 has been that England and Wales would have to continue buying renewable energy from Scotland to meet their renewables targets.
“Well, in the opinion of the authors, such an outcome, while possible, is unlikely at the price levels and volumes that might be expected were the Union to continue.”
