UTILITY giant ScottishPower yesterday used the consultation period into the government's latest energy review to lead renewed calls for the building of new nuclear power stations.

The Glasgow-based firm concluded that "no one generation technology can provide all the answers" to the country's energy needs, and called for "new nuclear, new clean coal and new renewable technologies".

"Only this diversity will balance our need to tackle climate change while protecting security of supply and ensuring greater competition at home and abroad," chief executive Philip Bowman said.

ScottishPower garnered praise in February after agreeing to spend GBP 170 million on installing new emissions-reducing technology at its Longannet coal power station in Fife. The Confederation of UK Coal Producers described the move as "good news for the Scottish economy, good news for the environment and good news for Scottish coal industry".

The call for new nuclear was also supported by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI), which also added that a "definitive, long-term policy framework" was vital to the UK's successful move into a low carbon economy.

Chief executive Alan Wilson said: "Scotland is currently an energy exporter. However, with the planned nuclear decommissioning timetable, Scotland will lose up to half of our generation capacity in the next few decades.

"To secure the national interests of clean, affordable energy for the long term, a broad mix of technologies will be needed, with indigenous gas, clean coal and nuclear forming the backbone of any energy strategy."

The SCDI also stressed the importance of fiscal stability in the North Sea, a goal said to be undermined by Chancellor Gordon Brown's recent tax raid on oil and gas producers.

Bound by pledges to slash greenhouse gas emissions, the government must decide the shape of the country's electricity supply network for coming decades as demand booms and North Sea oil and gas run out. Some insiders have claimed that nuclear has already been pin-pointed as a future option.