- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive to clarify what it means by “The contract will provide public bodies with access to energy management measures” in its news release of 18 August 2008 and whether it means consultancy, or retrofitting, provided free of charge across every public sector building.
Answer
The tender for the national contract has requested details from prospective suppliers for the energy management measures which they could provide to support the Scottish public sector. Examples given in the invitation to tender are:
Access to energy management information
On-line energy management tools
Energy efficiency audits
Site assessment for suitability of embedded generation.
Further clarification on what these measures could include will impact on the tender and subsequent evaluation processes. It is therefore inappropriate to comment further at this point in time.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support the renewable energy industry by continuing to purchase 100% of its electricity from renewable sources.
Answer
The Scottish Government is already providing a tremendous incentive for the renewables industry to build new renewable generating capacity via our renewables obligation on all Scottish electricity suppliers. Recent information has highlighted that renewable or green electricity tariffs for renewable electricity do not lead necessarily to the production of additional electricity from renewable sources.
Rather than paying what is likely to be a significant price premium for green electricity within the current tight financial settlement, the Scottish Government will divert resources towards energy management measures for its own estate, which will help protect the environment while reducing costs in the medium term via reduced electricity consumption.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many meters will be installed as a result of the contract currently out to tender for the supply of electricity to the public sector and by what date.
Answer
The tender requests suppliers to provide details of their Automatic Meter Reading Offer and seeks to leverage the demand from the Scottish public sector to reduce the cost of implementation of such solutions. Installation of meters will remain within the control of individual public bodies in accordance with local policy and budgetary priorities. It is therefore not possible at this time to estimate the number of meters which may be installed.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why it specified in its request for information from prospective electricity suppliers only that one objective for suppliers was to secure the supply of a portion of green energy.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15700 on 10 September 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that Network Rail is given sufficient resources, such as trackside pumps and drains, to cope with heavy or prolonged rainfall so that normal train services can continue despite severe rainfall.
Answer
The Scottish ministers'' high level output specification (HLOS) was published in July 2007 and specified ministers'' requirements for the rail network from April 2009 to March 2014. The HLOS makes clear that Network Rail require to pursue continued improvements to operational and financial performance, including improved resilience. The public funding available to support the HLOS includes an appropriate element for the continued maintenance of the Scottish rail network.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the electricity bought for the public sector under the contract currently out to tender will come from renewable sources.
Answer
The national contract will give public sector organisations the option to buy renewable electricity dependant on availability and payment of appropriate premiums.
The overall portion of renewable electricity purchased will therefore depend on the quantities specified by individual public bodies in line with their own policy and budget priorities.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why the supply of a portion of green energy was last in the list of objectives in the request for information from prospective electricity suppliers.
Answer
Market participants were requested to provide information on a number of issues. The list was in no specific order.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why it has not specified in its request for information from prospective electricity suppliers that 100% of the electricity must come from renewable sources.
Answer
Market indicators have suggested that the demand for renewable electricity has significantly increased as both public and private sector organisations have sought to demonstrate green credentials. This has resulted in supplies of renewable electricity being constrained in the market place both in terms of total availability and the quantities available from individual suppliers. The request for information process therefore sought information from the market on availability of renewable electricity to inform the strategy for the national electricity contract for the Scottish public sector.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that road drainage systems are improved to cope with current and future heavy or prolonged rainfall.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-15712 on 8 September 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what energy reductions will be achieved with the contract currently out for tender for the supply of electricity to the public sector.
Answer
The tender is focused on selecting the electricity supplier(s) for the national contract in accordance with the most economically advantageous tender. Energy reduction initiatives are defined, developed and monitored by individual public bodies and are carried out in line with their own policy and budget priorities. The national electricity contract aims to support these activities with input from suppliers.
