The clean energy industry is likely to be damaged if Scotland was to become independent, a new report claims.

A ‘Yes’ vote in Thursday’s referendum could leave investors “less confident” about future prospects in clean energy and project decisions could also be delayed, analysts at Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) predict.

According to the report, England and Wales have limited dependence on Scotland for power as the two nations imported less electricity from Scotland than they did from Europe in 2012.

With lower generation levels and less interconnection capacity, the report warns Scotland could be more reliant on England and Wales as a customer than they are on Scotland as a generator.

Michael Liebreich, Chairman of the advisory board at BNEF said: “The number one priority for Europe’s energy sector is to achieve higher levels of market and technical integration, to balance variable renewable generation.

“Any change that threatens that, especially if it creates a long period of uncertainty, is a step in the wrong direction. A ‘yes’ vote would be likely to slam the brakes on the Scottish renewable energy sector.”

ELN has contacted the Scottish National Party (SNP) for a comment.