Chamber and committees

I guess that it is an on-going situation.

We will have to monitor that.

Liam, did you want to come back in?

I would remind you to write to the committee, Mr Bowie, if you are going to write in. We will ensure that your response is distributed to Maggie Chapman, who, technically, is not part of the committee. The committee would certainly be grateful to have the answers.

I think that the deputy convener has more questions.

If the gas pipeline network is to be used to transmit hydrogen, it will have to be transferred from a metal piping system to a poly piping one, for lack of a better description. I am interested in whether the Government is planning how it can assist in driving that transfer.

If the existing infrastructure that we have for gas transmission cannot easily be converted for transmitting hydrogen, does that mean that there will be an important future for gas across the United Kingdom?

That is an interesting thought.

Those questions were slightly outwith the remit of today’s meeting, deputy convener, but I gave you a bit of leeway.

There are no further questions, so I will just make an observation. As we in Scotland move forward with our energy ambitions, I see that across Great Britain 32 per cent of the power comes from wind and 5.9 per cent from solar—obviously that is not hugely relevant up here, where we still rely on gas and a base load of nuclear from the UK or the French. We want to use renewable energy where we can, but we also want to be sure in our minds that the plans include having a base load that we can use if and when we need it across the UK.

Before we leave the topic, I want to make it abundantly clear, as I have done in previous meetings, that as a farmer, I have transmission lines across my land—I have 11KV lines, 33KV lines and I am in negotiation with regard to a 132KV transmission line—so I have an interest in them.

However, I was interested in what you have highlighted with regard to the scale of power line building that we will have to do to meet our requirements. In the Highlands, there is an outcry at the moment about the latest lines that are coming through and the incredibly poor negotiation between Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and the people on the ground. Do you think that work needs to be done to ensure that people understand the need for the lines, and do you think there is a better way of doing this than power companies simply using compulsory powers to go in and place the lines without proper consultation?

Good afternoon and welcome to the 14th meeting in 2023 of the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

We have apologies from Monica Lennon and Mark Ruskell. I welcome Maggie Chapman, who joins us for the meeting. We are delighted to have you here and, in line with convention, I will give you the opportunity to ask your questions once committee members have asked theirs.

The first item is a decision on taking business in private. The committee is asked to consider whether to take item 3, which is consideration of the evidence that we will hear under item 2, in private. Do members agree to take item 3 in private?

Members indicated agreement.

Nice try, Jackie. I am not sure that you are going to get any further than that.

Minister, just before we leave hydrogen, it seems from the briefings that I have received that one of the problems with hydrogen is that you lose a lot of electricity—up to 30 or 40 per cent—from changing electricity into hydrogen and then have quite a high loss when you convert that back into electricity. There is also the issue of moving hydrogen around, which cannot necessarily be done in the gas network that we have. The committee has had some evidence that it can be done but only if it is diluted in the gas that is going round. How do you envisage the Government encouraging people to develop the technology to minimise losses and make the transmission of hydrogen around the UK easier?