TWINS!












An intriguing little "consultation document" tucked away in the dusty recesses of National Grid's huge, rambling website reveals that the multinational company are considering the possibility of inflicting yet another giant pipeline on the good people of Wales.

The document reveals that this pipeline will be a "duplicate" of the Milford Haven to Tirley pipeline and will not be commissioned until late 2010, at the earliest.

The original Milford Haven to Tirley pipeline was ultimately triggered by "Capacity Auctions" held by National Grid in early 2004. In it's new guise as Enron-esque international energy trader, the Grid is obliged under the terms of it's license to make gas capacity available to the big LNG shippers (i.e. ExxonMobil, British Gas etc.) NG needed 3 years from the point of the auction to design, build and commission the pipeline.

It was a lovely plan which must have looked wonderful in the Lab but didn't really take account of that unpredictable beastie - local opinion. For some reason, the idea of running a bloody great 4 foot pipe with significant safety and environmental issues through the Welsh countryside bothered quite a lot of people...

So heck, why not bother people all over again!

While NG don't make clear what route they are proposing for this new pipeline, British Gas' enthusiastic respose to the consultation gives us a few clues;

“… the planning and construction of a major civil engineeringproject can be very complex particularly where the route may involve national parks or other environmentally sensitive areas. However, the Long Term system Entry Capacity (LTSEC) allocation process had been formulated upon a 3 year lead time being sufficient for any project.”

But as National Grid point out;

"There are inherent risks with delivery of the duplicate pipeline within a nominal 3 year investment lead time, including the potential for the project to be affected by significant external factors beyond National Grid NTS’s control associated with delivering elements of the duplicate pipeline. These external factors are principally the timescales associated with obtaining consent under the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations, planning permissions and easements from landowners."

In other words, the Nod, the Handshake, and a couple of CPO's slapped on unco-operative farmers.

So there we have it. National Grid are thinking about it, British Gas want it, and the language of the document is revealing inasmuch as "a duplicate pipeline" quickly metamorphoses into "the new duplicate pipeline" later on in the text.

Do you get the feeling that somebody somewhere has already made their mind up?

Who's Been a Naughty Boy Then?

Councillor Ioan Richard, "The People's Representative" and Champion of the Upland Commons of Swansea, hasn't quite been upfront with the goods.

Last year, during a key planning vote for a Gas Compressor Station in his ward, councillor Richard voted for the application. The Compressor vote took place under highly dubious circumstances.

That's the polite way of putting it.

Voicing his opposition to a small wind turbine in Tesco's Car Park, Councillor Richard declared an interest and withdrew. The People's Rep is well known for his opposition to Wind Farms. He later returned to vote through the massive gas installation is his ward. Hmmmm. So why is Ioan such a big fan of fossil fuels?

A few months later, an interesting little article appears in the South Wales Evening Post. Councillor Richard is quoted parrotting National Grid's promotional speil; "20% of UK gas supplies etc." But tucked away in the piece is a very relevant little bit of info: the Grid awarded money from their fund to the Craigcefnparc Welfare Hall.

A hall which Ioan Richard happens to be a Trustee of, through his membership of Mawr Community Council.

Don't remember Ioan declaring an interest in that one though...

One Wales, Many Power Projects.

Well, Rhodri and Ieuan have gone ahead and done the deal. So from an energy point-of-view it pays to take a closer look at the “One Wales Accord” document, and see exactly what it means for us here in Wales.

And as it turns out, what’s not mentioned in the document is every bit as intriguing as what is.

There are a plethora of power projects currently under construction or consideration in Wales at the moment, many of which do not fall into the remit of the Welsh Assembly. Because many of them have a generating capacity over 50MW, they will be decided by the new Department for Business and Regulatory Reform (DEBRR, formerly the DTI) in London.

Given Labour’s track record over the last 10 years, you can safely take “Regulatory Reform” to mean “Deregulation”.

This issue of control over large power projects, however, is not something the Labour Administration in Cardiff have been insensitive to, and, a few years ago, former Enterprise Minister Andrew Davies made representations to the DTI, seeking devolution of large power station consents to the Assembly. In response to this, it was agreed to set up a three-way committee to look at the process, the Tripartite Group on Energy Consents.

This little-known group, split between the Welsh Assembly, DTI and the Welsh Office, have largely deliberated outside of the public gaze.

The funny thing is, no mention is made of this Group in the new Accord. Indeed, under Part 8 of the Accord, the only drawdown of powers that the new Plaid/Labour administration will seek, in order to tackle the huge problem of climate change, is control over Building Regulations. A useful step, I’m sure, but hardly earth-shaking.

So what exactly has this Group been discussing, and why is there no mention of it in the Accord? What exactly are Plaid’s Labour partners up to?