Leanne Wood puts a strong and forthright case on her blog for a controversial subject - wind. In principle, I agree with much of what she says, but as with many things in politics, there's a catch. You just have to spot it. I have a lot of respect for Ms Wood as one of the more principled AMs in the Assembly, but on this subject I think she may be a little naive. Ms Wood's claim that "doing nothing and waiting for London to form our energy policy for us is a dereliction of duty" is a noble sentiment, but ignores the reality of our situation. It's too late - London has already decided on Welsh energy policy, and the core of that policy is based not on renewables, but on gas.
The time to take a strong stand over the issue of climate change was when the LNG Terminals and pipeline were planned and under construction.
But where were you Ms Wood?
It needs to be understood that the Terminals and pipeline are essentially the platform for a massive ramp-up in fossil fuel generation across Wales between now and 2020. Most of this generation will be gas. A fact that the previous Labour administration is well aware of, and has actively worked to facilitate. In this respect, Labour is continuing the "Dash for Gas", initiated by Thatcher in the late 1980s.
It's a Thatcherite, or as Andrew Davies AM likes to call it, "Market-based" energy policy.
As a result of this ramp-up, in absolute terms renewables will form a declining, not growing share of this mix. Knowing this, Labour have cynically set the Assembly's renewables target in Terrawatt Hours, rather than as a simple percentage of the overall energy mix (i.e. 10%). They know full well that if their target was a percentage figure, it will not be met.
Just one of the new gas-fired stations earmarked for the Milford Haven area - Pembroke 1 - will be the biggest power station built in the UK since Drax in the mid 1980s. It will be supplied with regassified LNG. Friends of the Earth have already - rightly - pointed out that these installations will waste an amount of heat equating to half the entire energy usage of Wales, and turn Pembrokeshire into our "Climate Change capital".
These stations will also lead to a massive jump in Wales' electricity production, despite the fact that we are already a net exporter. As a consequence, ANY new generation - renewable or fossil fuel - will not be needed in Wales. At a time when families are already struggling under the cosh of ever-rising fuel bills, the costs of any new infrastructure will be passed by utilities onto the consumer, and that includes the Welsh consumer.
The sad fact is that the Labour Assembly has sat back and allowed the UK government to lock Wales into a structural dependence on a resource, the price of which is now escalating rapidly. As a Socialist, this is something that Ms Wood might want to consider when gas prices rise again by 40% in August, delivering yet another hammer blow to low income earners in her own constituency and across the rest of Wales.
By not openly challenging the UK government's policy, Leanne's Labour partners have effectively skewed the whole energy equation in Wales. Despite the fact that no less an authority than Jonathan Stern pointed out in his report that Gas Transmission alone is one of the most carbon intensive sectors of the economy. A report commissioned, of course, by our current PM, Gordon Brown.
As a Republican committed to Welsh independence Ms Wood also needs to consider the implications of any new transmission infrastructure - pipelines or powerlines - which will only serve to bind us ever more tightly to the over-centralised energy system of the British State.
Admitting that the Assembly's renewables strategy is fundamentally flawed need not be an admission of failure in the face of climate change. But the public - many of whom are affected by these projects - have a right to know that the Assembly is fighting the good fight with one arm tied behind it's back.
Because without the power to stop the UK government imposing large gas stations like Pembroke 1 on us, the Assembly's renewables strategy as currently constituted is little more than spin.
2 comments:
There are alternatives to the National Grid - local grids have been set up in such revolutionary hotbeds as Surrey. See http://www.theclimategroup.org/reducing_emissions/case_study/woking/ for more details.
There is massive scope, with the political will, for Wales to opt out of the National Grid and provide a massively more efficient system of power (40% of power is lost in transmission).
Allan Jones, the driving force behind the Woking experiment, has some good info on the web - Google him + Woking... the borough (about the size of Torfaen) is also responsible for 10% of all Photovoltaic cells installed in the UK - purely because the local council had a vision. It also cut CO2 emissions by 77% ni 10 years and reduced its energy bill by £974,000 a year by using Combined Heat and Power plants and renewable energy. He's now developing a similar project in London (if Boris doesn't sack him).
Imagine what a National Assembly with a similar vision could achieve.
I've heard of this through Greenpeace's "Decentralising Power" report. I agree it's definitely the way to go. I think I read a story somewhere that Jones didn't sell the idea to Woking Council as a decentralised power scheme, he "dressed it up" as something a lot less radical as he knew they wouldn't accept it otherwise.
I think perhaps if we had a more decentralised Grid that different regions of Wales would be able to more naturally develop power generation technologies of a type and scale that are suited to their geography. I'm looking at the feasability of small-scale hydro in my area, for example.
Post a Comment