‘THE Scottish National Party had a fantastic conference at the weekend. With 3000 delegates – a figure which I understand is more than attended the spring conferences of all the other parties combined – heard some pretty inspirational speeches.

Time was taken, too, to address some of the real difficulties facing communities in Scotland and one of those concerned was the future of Longannet Power Station and the impact that transmission charges for supplying power to the National Grid has had on the closure decision.

Incredibly, there are different charges for connecting to the National Grid depending on where the power is produced and – surprise, surprise - it puts Scottish energy producers at a distinct and unfair disadvantage.

It has been claimed that the differences in charges reflected how far the station was from population centres, but National Grid figures showing that a power station in Lands’ End would expect to be subsidised for its electricity have blown a gaping hole in those claims.

The latest transmission charges, that come into effect in April, show that a power station located at Lands’ End would receive the maximum subsidy of £5.80 per KW while Longannet faces charges of £17.15 per KW. This is despite the fact that Cornwall’s entire population is under 500,000 and Lands’ End is 316 miles away from London, not that much closer than the 421 miles distance from Longannet to London, which is also, of course, slap bang in the central belt of Scotland which, in my book, counts as a major centre of population.

Scottish Power made clear that the burden of transmission charges are disadvantaging Scotland and that Longannet’s future hung on whether a deal could be reached with the National Grid.

That unfair disadvantage has now resulted in the announcement from Scottish Power that Longannet Power Station is likely to close prematurely in 2016, affecting 270 direct employees and who knows how many hundreds more related supply chain jobs.

The resolution that was approved unanimously by SNP conference delegates, welcomed the commitment from the Scottish Government to explore any avenue that could prevent premature closure and to do everything it can to secure the best possible outcomes for those affected and to mitigate the economic impact if closure really cannot be finally avoided.

We also recognised that the need to maintain a balanced mix of clean electricity generation is being frustrated by the UK Government’s unwillingness to consider Scottish issues properly and called on them to start taking the issues facing the energy sector in Scotland – including transmission charges – far more seriously’.