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I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10353 on 14 August 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Scottish Ministers have not been made aware by National Grid of any material change in their assessment of the probability of a black start event.

Security of supply and the restoration of electricity supplied in the event of a black start is a reserved matter, accountability for which rests with the Secretary of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, and is a matter in relation to which the Scottish Government has no formal functions. The responsibility for restoring electricity supplies in the event of a black start lies with National Grid under its Transmission Licence.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10260 on 11 August 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-10260 on 11 August 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

National Grid’s priority in the event of a black start would be to restore network functions as quickly as possible.

I met with Phil Sheppard of National Grid on 21 December 2016, in my capacity as Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, to discuss winter security of supply, including black start. This was followed by an extraordinary meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board on 16 February to discuss Scottish security of supply and system resilience. This was attended by the First Minister, myself, relevant Scottish Government officials, representatives of the energy sector in Scotland and representatives from National Grid.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Constitution announced the 2016-17 provisional outturn figures on 22 June. These are currently subject to the final audit process.

The final 2016-17 Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency budget was £119m. An increase of £16m on the draft budget. This reflects additional funding allocated in year to support delivery of our Warmer Homes Scotland scheme and to assist social landlords in meeting the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing.

The provisional budget outturn for 2016-17 notes a variance of £3m in the outturn in the Fuel Poverty and Energy Efficiency Budget. This occurs in our Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS): Area Based Schemes, covering standard ABS projects and phase 1 of the Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) Pilots. The nature of these schemes involves technically difficult measures being installed on properties which can lead to delays in completion and invoicing. Officials are in regular contact with local authority counterparts seeking updates and reassurance on forecast spend. Despite repeated reassurances during the year, some councils declared an underspend very late in the financial year, by which time it was too late to use the allocated budget for this purpose. As is normal practice, this budget underspend was used to help offset additional spend elsewhere in the Scottish Government.

Testing of Peterhead is a matter for Scottish and Southern Energy as the station owner/operator, liaising with National Grid. Peterhead does not have black start capability, as it requires power from the network to begin generating, but could play an important role in fully re-establishing power supplies to the grid.

Security of supply and the restoration of electricity supplied in the event of a black start is a reserved matter and one in which the Scottish Government has no formal functions. The responsibility for restoring electricity supplies in the event of a black start lies with National Grid under its Transmission License.

The Scottish Government works closely with National Grid – as well as with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Ofgem and Scotland’s network operators – to ensure that the black start strategy remains resilient and effective, and that Scottish circumstances and priorities are taken fully into account.

The Scottish Government supports the need for a diverse supply of electricity located across the network to aid black start restoration processes. On 21 September 2016, I wrote to Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, highlighting the value of black start-capable pumped storage hydro (PSH) to the energy system, and calling upon the UK Government to consider how a 'route to market', which provides investors with confidence in the necessary revenue streams, could bring forward infrastructure investment in grid scale storage, including consented PSH projects in Scotland.