The Institution of Civil Engineers Scotland will call for an expert-led debate on Scotland’s energy policy as part of its annual report card due to be released on Wednesday.

The Scottish Infrastructure Scorecard, which is released once every Parliamentary term, analyses the Scottish Government’s energy policy as one of five major areas of infrastructure and is compiled using evidence from expert members and stakeholders.

The energy section of the report will highlight Scotland’s energy ‘quadrilemma’ - the need to simultaneously balance reducing carbon, minimising consumer cost, ensuring security of supply and taking into the account the social acceptability of different types of energy source.

"Scotland will transition from being a net exporter to being a net importer of electricity if the closures of Longannet, Hunterston and Torness are not replaced by new development. We will be calling for a national debate on how we, as a country, deal with this to ensure that we have a resilient supply with sufficient capacity for the long term" - Professor Gary Pender

Whilst recognising that much of energy policy is reserved to Westminster, ICE Scotland will urge the Scottish Government to articulate a clear vision of how it wishes the gap caused by the retiring of over half of Scotland’s electricity generating capacity over the next decade to be filled

And it will ask the Scottish Government to ensure that the debate on the pros and cons of wind, nuclear and onshore gas and their place in Scotland’s future energy mix is informed by independent, scientific, expert advice.

"Scotland will transition from being a net exporter to being a net importer of electricity if the closures of Longannet, Hunterston and Torness are not replaced by new development," said chair of the ICE Scotland Committee Professor Gary Pender.  "We will be calling for a national debate on how we, as a country, deal with this to ensure that we have a resilient supply with sufficient capacity for the long term.

"Energy policy is hugely politically controversial, with wind power, nuclear power and onshore gas extraction provoking particularly emotional and politically motivated responses. We need to move beyond this at times irrational and ill-informed discourse about all these forms of energy generation, and conduct a thorough, expert-informed assessment of the right approach for Scotland," he said.

"Energy is the part of Scotland’s infrastructure network which concerns us most, and we encourage the Scottish Government, working with the UK Government, to provide a clearly articulated vision for the future. Decisions must be made on evidence and resilience, not on emotion and politics."

Gary Smith, Acting Secretary GMB Scotland, the union for energy work backed the Institution’s debate call. He said: " We do need a sober honest debate.

“We have high levels of fuel poverty in Scotland. Having access to gas is crucial to tackle fuel poverty because gas is four times cheaper than electricity. If anyone disputes the case for gas then they should put in their manifesto that they want people to turn off their gas boiler and replace it with electricity at the cost of thousands and then watch the bill to heat their homes go up four fold."

Tackling the Scottish government’s opposition to fracking, he went on:  “We need to be honest, that we have been fracking in the north sea for decades. It hasn't resulted in earthquakes and rigs falling into the sea.

“There has been a lack of honesty about energy from Scottish politicians of all parties. We need energy to heat our homes and to power industry. It is about the bitter irony that whilst there has been a frenzied debate about fracking we are losing hundreds of jobs in the steel sector due to high energy prices.

“GMB Scotland supports a sensible sober debate about energy, environment, safety and jobs. A debate that is rooted in the real world. "