I welcome the Environment Agency's production of a map which notes the potential 26,000 locations in Wales and England that could be used to generate hydro-electric energy. Small scale hydroelectric generation schemes offer the potential for not just generating power but generating income for our farmers and our communities. In the south east, we already have the Green Valleys project in the Brecon Beacons which currently generates power from 10 wild mountain streams, the Onabaston weir scheme (on the Monnow) and approval for a small scheme in Tintern which will generate power for some 200 homes.
The potential of green energy to generate jobs is also in the offing with Mabey Bridge (at Chepstow and Gloucester) looking to develop wind turbines which should create 240 jobs and lead to an investment of £38m in its base in Monmouthshire - this type of project should create hundreds of skilled and technical posts. The UK government's somewhat belated plan to pay people for providing clean energy should be welcomed, which when combined with feed-in tariffs, could make small scale hydropower a realistic and attractive method of generating energy and income.
There is absolutely no reason why many of the smaller scale energy generation schemes could not be community owned generating income for our communities and providing a degree of ownership as well as income. Small scale schemes, could also benefit our farmers by helping to provide them with another income stream as well as eliminating or significantly reducing their energy bills. With built in environmental safeguards, including the provision of fish passes something that could be encouraged by specific grants, small scale hydro electric energy schemes could provide long term sustainable benefits to local communities in terms of cheaper energy, jobs and income.
The Plaid driven One Wales Government has allocated an initial £15m of funding to help Welsh community organisations invest in technology to generate clean, renewable energy – this is good start but more clearly can be done. While this is good news, but we need local plans to develop local energy plans, local energy supplies and welcome the development of community owned and community beneficial sustainable energy plants. We need new local authority planning guidelines and proper feed-in tariffs to rapidly promote the incorporation of small-scale renewable energy installations and much better insulation in individual homes, commercial and public buildings and groups of buildings - this is essential.
If we are going to make any of this happen, we needs a realistic and flexible energy strategy that will allow and encourage the creation of sustainable green energy job opportunities for our people and take full advantage of the extraordinary natural resources we in Wales are blessed with. If this happens, then there is absolutely no reason why Wales should not be amongst the most progressive countries in the field of sustainable alternative energy and sustainable green jobs and the UK can end its dependence on fuel supplies from unstable regions and unsavory regimes.
Good post. It's interesting to note as well that this report stands in flat contrast to the Assembly's estimate that there was only about 10MW of small hydro capacity that could be developed in Wales. The EA report estimate is more than 20 times this figure at around 200mw (the theoretical figure is a lot higher again, but environmental constraints will whittle this down).
ReplyDeleteThe EA report also doesnt map out large scale high head schemes, very small schemes, or the potential for retrofitting water utility networks which have considerable generation potential too.
The assembly needs to steer away from it's fixation on large scale wind-farm developments (a lot of the electricity will be exported to England) and look at a more diverse, decentralised and locally controlled system of energy generation and distribution.