DAVE Haskell (Letters, September 3) questions the capability of our local electricity networks to handle power generated by renewable energy schemes; he insists that they have only been designed and constructed for distribution “and not for the input from solar panels and, most worrying of all, from … wind generators.” He goes on, “one trusts that all large solar parks and wind farms are connected directly to the National Grid and not the local network.”

Firstly, questioning the integrity of our local power networks is a new tack for Haskell; but he’s consistent in his approach: as in previous letters to this paper, no matter that he doesn’t command all the facts, away he rants, sowing seeds of doubt in readers’ minds.

OF COURSE the ability of the local network to handle any new power-using or power-generating equipment is checked before it is connected, and Haskell’s suggesting that it isn’t is quite a slur against the professional teams who design and maintain our electricity supply – who, it should be noted, did a superb job of restoring normality after all the inevitable faults caused by last winter’s terrible weather.

Secondly, as for connecting renewable energy equipment directly onto “The National Grid” – that’s like insisting that lorries should go into the oil refineries to refill directly from their tank farms.

The Local Distribution Network: to borrow a saying, Mr Haskell, it does exactly what it says on the tin. Thus, in most cases, the renewable energy which is generated locally is consumed locally, thereby minimising grid transmission losses.

CHRISTOPHER JESSOP

Independent Energy Consultant

Marloes