Chamber and committees

Thank you. I will now ask my question. A book that I read when I was younger and which I still look at is “The Dam Builders—Power from the Glens”, which is a great book. It talks about Scotland’s transition to using renewable energy in the form of hydro pump storage and all the rest of it, with massive dam building. As a result of that, we transferred power to the areas that needed it along what were then superhighways. Scotland’s countryside has been shaped by those superhighways that were put in in the 1950s—the 132kV lines. They were obviously built there for a reason, because that was probably the best route and the most protected route.

Aileen McLeod and Scott Mathieson have talked about planning and the difficulties of it. Because those lines are already there, one way to avoid planning problems would be to make sure that those lines are upgraded, without moving them, and that they form the basis of the superhighway in the future. Is that not a simple answer?

Before we leave that, if we went more to a hydrogen system—I know that members will ask about that later—would that get rid of the need for constraint payments, which are quite big?

I am confused. Is Mark going—

I would love you to say it as well.

You have just told them they do not have a different view so—

I think that we have probably got what we need. It was a nice try, Collette—I am sorry that I could not let you do it.

It has been an interesting session, and I thank the witnesses for their evidence this morning. The fact that we started late and have still run on past the time that we were originally going to have proves how much your evidence is valued. Thank you very much.

I suspend the meeting until 11.05 am to allow for a changeover of witnesses.

No one is jumping up and down. Thank you for handing back because we are short of time. I would like to go to Liam Kerr and then come to Collette Stevenson.

Clare, you can come back in briefly, if you want—if you are going to give me the good news that constraint payments will no longer be paid.

Absolutely not. I will allow one more person to respond.

I think that we have pushed that as far as I can allow it to go, just because of the shortness of time. Back to you, Jackie.