IN NEED OF A RENEWABLES REVOLUTION

Wales is home to vast natural wealth but for too long, Westminster has benefited from the exploitation and export of our resources. Plaid Cymru wants to see control over these natural resources and major energy projects devolved from Westminster to the National Assembly so that the people of Wales benefit from them.

That way, we can dramatically increase our renewable energy capacity with a focus on tidal and hydro sources, and protect our communities from damaging Westminster policies such as fracking and over-reliance on fossil fuels. Plaid would also introduce a Climate Change Act for Wales, adopting challenging but achievable greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 and 2050.

Plaid Cymru believes that communities should be able to benefit more from energy generation. We want to see local people owning and investing in energy projects as has happened in Scotland. We would also look into establishing local power grids and a Wales-wide national energy grid to secure energy transmission around Wales, linking north and south entry points undersea.

Some 85,000 households in Wales fell into fuel poverty between 2011-2014 bringing the total to 450,000. In such an energy-rich nation this is nothing short of a disgrace. Plaid Cymru is committed to a fairer, greener, more prosperous Wales. Our plans would see Welsh resources being put to use in a manner that benefits our communities, our environment and our economy.

THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN

A friend of mine summed up Russia’s actions in eastern Ukraine perfectly, saying that it is important to remember that historically the inhabitants of the Kremlin have never tended to do subtle either externally or internally. When it comes to ‘Soviet / Russian intervention’ to suppress striking East German workers (in 1953), the crushing of the Hungarian revolution (in 1956), the invasion of Czechoslovakia to crush the Prague spring (in 1968), the invasion of Afghanistan (in 1979) and the invasions of Georgia (in 2008) and recent events in Ukraine most people would be hard pressed to describe them as subtle.  

The shadow of a gunman...

Orchestrated by the Kremlin Russian nationalist elements active in eastern Ukraine are busy throwing their weight around and the realities of President Putin rule in Russia are coming home to roost.  News filtering out from eastern Ukraine is beginning to suggest a pattern to disappearances as journalists, local politicians, and ordinary citizens have begun to go missing at an alarming rate. The Kyiv Post and the Committee to Protect Journalists have compiled lists of documented cases of kidnappings in the region.

We are where we are because of Russia’s long planned but hastily implemented occupation of the Crimea which followed the collapse of the corrupt oligarchic pro Moscow government in Kyiv in the face of a bloody but popular revolt. The US Secretary of State John Kerry has rightly accused Russia of "distraction, deception and destabilisation" in eastern Ukraine. In the strongly worded statement, he has called on Moscow to help defuse the crisis or face further sanctions.

The  continuing unrest of eastern Ukraine has more to do with deflecting public opinion in Russia away from the example of Kyiv than anything else. That said the unrest in Eastern Ukraine was stirred up after, from the Kremlin’s perspective, a pro western revolt succeeded. The key and as yet unresolved issue remains as to whether the Ukraine looks east to Moscow or west to the EU looms large in the Kremlin’s thinking.

Last month Russia annexed Ukraine's mainly ethnic-Russian Crimea following a questionable referendum in the region which ‘choose’ to that backed joining the Russian Federation. Both the West and Kiev have said that the referendum was illegal and have refused to recognise it. The problem is that the Kremlin’s concerns for ‘Russians in zones of legitimate interest’ posses potential problems for Moldova (including in the Trans Dniester region) and other eastern states with Russian minorities.

For a man originally brought in as a safe pair of hands to safeguard the interests of a clique of oligarchs who made their fortunes plundering the privatised assets of the former Soviet Union while ordinary Russians lost their savings, President Putin sits securely (and genuinely elected with a large popular mandate) in the Kremlin. The President’s popularity is higher than ever, state’s coffers are full of accrued energy revenues, former oligarchs have been tamed, the bear has roared, Russia has expanded territorially for the first time since 1945 and the West’s criticism has been dismissed.

To a great extent we are all still living with the consequences of the second world war and the cold war – parallels between President Putin and the dictators from the 1930’s and 1940’s have already been drawn.  The legacy and legacy of Stalin’s terror continues to overshadow modern Russia to the day. Communist tyranny died of apathy and inertia in the early 1990’s this meant that there were no real consequences for the former communists and the agencies of the communist state. 

There was no day in court to answer for terrible crimes and abuses inflicted on the Russian people. There was no equivalent of a post cold war Nuremberg tribunal to bring the former communist functionaries (including the KGB) to account for their crimes against the Russian people continue to haunt the Russian people and the rest of us. Unlike in much of Eastern Europe the former dissidents never inherited political power the former communist bureaucrats did.

The West preferred to work hand in hand with former communists to saddle Russia the inheritor of much of the former Soviet state with a dubious legacy of privatisations. Now while there are some in the West who are quite happy to admire President Putin’s values the problem with appeasement is not how it starts but how it ends. If the West accepts that eastern Ukraine President Putin’s final territorial demand then we will be on seriously unstable political ground for the foreseeable future.

Disturbingly the modern Russia’s ‘brown’ vote long targeted by President Putin appears to be the home to some extreme views long dispatched to the home of the extreme right wing.  The Crimean Tartars, who suffered deportation at the hands of Stalin and years of discrimination at the hands of the Soviet authorities, now find themselves back in Russia and like some other ethnic and religious minorities at risk.

When it comes to articulating the consequences and realities of appeasement these are the times when we seriously miss people like Michael Foot who would have stated in no uncertain terms exactly what Russia’s intervention in Ukraine actually signifies. That murmur of Munich that drifted through the West’s chancelleries in the 1990’s over Bosnia clearly has not gone away. 

A combination of increasing EU dependence on Russia gas supplies and potential loss of trading opportunities seriously threatens to put the skids under any EU diplomatic response to recent events in eastern Ukraine. If we in the West choose to do nothing , then what message does that send to Russian and Belarusian democrats and would be democratic movements across Eurasia and the rest of the world? 

THE PEOPLE’S POWER

Aside from its people, Wales’ greatest strength lies with the potential of her natural resources – these are our most valuable sustainable assets, and they are need to be managed in a sustainable way that promotes fairness. Before we can develop a sustainable future for our country, the Welsh Government needs not only to get a grip but to make better use of its existing powers as well as achieving the devolution of powers over planning for renewable energy for Wales.

The Welsh Government needs to develop sustainable energy targets for Wales and to assume responsibility for delivering them. Hand in hand with this it is important  that local communities get a direct benefit from larger energy projects in their area and that they get an opportunity to participate in and also to develop small scale community beneficial energy projects.

All energy projects in Wales need to include community benefit clauses so that our communities get something back. We need to urgently establish of an arms-length, publicly-owned, not-for-distributable-profit energy company – Ynni Cymru – something that should directly benefit Welsh energy customers by helping them to pay a fair price for their energy. Energy bills in Wales have risen three times faster than wages since 2008, and the establishment of Ynni Cymru can help to tackle this issue directly.

Once we used to be a world leader in carbon-based energy and  we have the potential once again to be a world leader when it comes to developing sustainable energy projects. If this is going to happen then our Government needs to work to create the right environment so that everyone in Wales can benefit, rather than leaving it to disinterested Westminster based governments. Our country’s potential as a world leader in green industries needs to be unlocked and we need to create a stronger and more economically self-sufficient Wales.

BEING AWARE OF THE BEAR

Not that you would be aware of it from the UK media but another positive milestone was passed on the 29th November (2013) when the leaders of Georgia and Moldova signed their countries Association Agreements with the European Union. These agreements are an important step in their bid for membership of the 28-nation bloc, although as pen touched paper there must have been lingering thoughts about how Russia would react.

I am acutely aware that the largely London based and London centric UK  media rarely carries any positive EU related stories, but, as an interested child raised during the now thankfully historic Cold War era, the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius, is a positive event. The fact that the largely unheralded (by the UK media) summit was held in Vilnius, Lithuania, a country that was occupied by the Soviet Union from 1944 until 1991, in itself shows how far we have all travelled in recent years.

The problem is that the summit has understandably deepened real fears of harsh retaliation from Russia in both Georgia and Moldova. The Kremlin has reacted aggressively and somewhat successfully to prevent the Ukraine from signing its own EU pact. Just days before the deal was due to be sign the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych walked away from the deal in Vilnius, in the process sparking a political crisis in the Ukraine and revamping the democratic western looking opposition.

Pro-European Demonstrators in the Ukraine (Picture from Reuters)

Thousands of pro-EU Ukrainians poured onto the streets of the capital , Kiev, on 24th November the crowd being  estimated at being more than 100,000 with larger demonstrations being held since then. The opposition continues to demand that the government resign after President Viktor Yanukovych decided to postpone the signing of a deal on closer ties with the European Union.

The Ukrainian parliament debated and held a stormy vote of no confidence in the government which the government just about managed to win. The Ukrainian President’s decision has sparked some of the biggest protests in Ukraine since the Orange Revolution back in 2004.

Only a few hours after the initialling ceremony, the Moldovan Prime Minister Leanca openly called on Moscow not to shut down the communication line with Chisinau. The reality is that Moscow will probably wait until after the Sochi Winter Olympics in February are over to initiate retaliatory measures to avoid any 'bad press' in close proximity to Russia’s golden Olympic moments on the media spotlight.

EU leaders in Vilnius condemned Russia for its pretty blatant bullying of Ukraine into shelving its landmark association deal with Europe in favour of retaining closer ties with Moscow. Russian sanctions could have devastating effects on Georgia's and Moldova's still-fragile economies as Russia is an important export market for both countries and regular destination for guest workers from both countries.

Perhaps this is the price to be paid for not following the bear

Georgia imports most of its natural gas from Azerbaijan and Moldova relies almost exclusively on gas from Russia - a state that has some form for periodically tightening the tap on its neighbours when it wants to. Russia has no right to try to dictate or to approve or disapprove whatever organisations economic or political associations independent countries might want to join.

Yet, the view from the Kremlin (or the Hermitage) is different, the sight of the EU map getting ever larger and drawing in more and more former Eastern bloc and former Soviet (however unwilling) republics is bound to set historic alarm bells ringing, not to mention setting the ghosts of Peter the Great and Stalin pacing the corridors of the Kremlin or the Hermitage. The dominant Russian component of the Soviet Union historically and practically ended up seeing the CCCP as an extension of greater Russia.

Smaller peripheral nationalities were (and continue to be in some circles) patronisingly and dismissed as possessing simple local political and linguistic peculiarities, this somewhat patronising idea, is entirely understandable particularly if you are Scottish, Irish, Breton, Catalan, Basque or Welsh. Or if you are participating in what looks (at least from the South East of our country) to be a somewhat one sided (London centric media wise) debate on Scottish independence. 

Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State under President Harry S. Truman, once rightly said that “Great Britain has lost an Empire and has not yet found a role”. In my opinion this well perceived observation was right then (in 1962) and is still right today; it’s been fifty years since the Empire was lost and the ‘Brit’ elite have still not got over it or adjusted to economic and political realities of their situation. Much the same can be said for Russia...

We are fifty years down the road since the end of Empire, yet the Westminster elite continue to preside over Fantasy Island and to act out a delusional role on the World stage. If nothing else this should, provide a degree of understanding to unfolding events in the East and Russia’s behaviour. The Russians lost their Empire in barely a fortnight (in late August 1991) and their elite and many (but by no means all) Russian citizens may well be a long way from getting over it and adjusting to the new realities and opportunities. 

THE INDIRECT CONNECTION

We modern humans have always lived in pretty well connected world, so if you think that there is no direct or even indirect connection between a public meeting about the plan to build a gas fired power station in Wrecsam and the suppression of a teacher union in Bahrain, then think again. The plan to build an £800 million pound gas-fired power station in Wrecsam, which Wrexham Power have said could create up to 1,200 construction jobs and 50 permanent posts on the proposed site at Wrecsam Industrial Estate, has led to the creation of an action group Wrecsam Residents Against Power Scheme (Wraps) whose concerned members have "many reservations" about the proposals for the gas fired power station.

The plan to construct (yet) another gas fired power station (in Wales) adding to ones constructed earlier in Pembrokeshire and in Newport (Gwent) is part of yet another Conservative inspired ‘dash to gas’. Whether the thrown bone of jobs is enough of a distracter to allow to project to go through on the nod is a matter of conjecture. If nothing else the Con Dem Westminster Government is running greater risks by increasing the UK’s dependency upon imported gas from the chronically unstable Persian Gulf and Russia.

Successive Westminster Governments should have been working consistently to ensure our energy independence. Instead they have presided over our increasing dependence on imported energy supplies and left energy planning to the privatised energy companies who are only interested in generating more profits.  Much of the gas for the new generation of gas fired power stations comes from the Persian gulf and despite Mr Cameron’s best efforts to sell the Gulf elites more rubber and real bullets than they can use in a month of Sundays the region remains chronically unstable.

Bahrain has a reputation as being quite the repressive regime having cracked down on protests for democracy in 2011. Amongst those arrested in the crackdown were members of the Bahrain Teachers Association. Amnesty International has repeatedly called for the release of the jailed president of the Bahrain Teachers Association, Mahdi Abu Dheeb. He was convicted by a military court of plotting to overthrow the government during unrest that swept Bahrain in 2011, receiving a 10 year sentence, reduced to five on appeal.

Mr Abu Dheeb and his vice-president Jalila al-Salman have made allegations that they were tortured in detention after calling for a strike by teachers in March 2011 to support pro-democracy activists who had occupied the Pearl Roundabout, in Manama (the capital city). The Bahrain Teachers Association was subsequently dissolved by the government after its leaders were arrested. Ms Salman was originally sentenced to three years in jail but that was reduced to six months on appeal. In March this year she was sacked from her teaching job after criticising Bahrain's human rights record at a conference in Washington DC.  All these people did was call a strike as trade union leaders.

This is where energy policy, political repression and Human Rights all meet up. On a very basic level, to have an energy strategy that is to all intents and purposes dependent on imported gas from a politically unstable region is questionable to say the least. Surely if nothing else the events of the Arab spring should have taught the West one thing at least, in that at some point even the most heavily tooled up repressive regime can fall if enough people are willing to challenge it. At which point when the lights begin to flicker where exactly will we be left standing?

DEALING WITH A DEPENDENCY CULTURE

Well before the last National Assembly elections I came to the conclusion that the Labour in Wales Government in Cardiff was merely going through the motions when it comes to the government of our country. Rather than changing Wales for the better or even trying to plan for a prosperous and sustainable future it’s a case of sitting back and waiting for Labour in Westminster (London) to fix all our problems with periodic public spats with a convenient Con Dem government in London over issues that even a Westminster Labour Government would never devolve in a month of Sundays e.g. the Severn Bridge Tolls, etc.  

This if nothing else this shows the intellectual dependency on Westminster and London that runs through the heart of Labour in Wales at every level in every part of our country where Labour is in office.  At a very basic level, certainly locally in Newport (and no doubt elsewhere across our country) it appears to be literally about being there rather than doing anything in particular, that and enjoying as many of the trimmings as possible.

This is the real dependency culture that lies at the heart of the current Labour in Wales’s government in Cardiff; it revolves around the fantasy of waiting for Westminster to come to our rescue. When the next Labour in Westminster government will make it all better, banishing the nasty Tories and their cuts, etc, etc. This a fantasy, when the last Labour Government was in office well before the financial crash when the coffers were full and there was (in theory) no lack of political will; little was done to balance out the economic imbalance that lies at the heart of modern Union.  

Take energy, things are different in Scotland, as I have said before Wales is not Scotland; and what works in Scotland won’t necessarily work here. When it comes to energy generation, energy planning and growing jobs then Wales just like Scotland should be in a position to benefit from its rich natural resources. There are certainly more than enough Scottish examples to show that a whole range of entirely practical steps have been taken to generate sustainable alternative energy and jobs.

One particularly good example of the practical and the possible is the new hydro power scheme in Ross-shire which has just been given planning approval, ironically on the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the hydro power industry in Scotland. The £3 0 million pound scheme near Ardross will supply power to 4,000 homes and SSE will begin construction on the 7.5 megawatt (MW) Glasa scheme later on this year.

First Minister, Alex Salmond said: "Hydro-electric and its role in producing energy is one of the greatest industrial success stories of post-war Scotland. Hydro drove not only industrial development but also immense social achievement - something which still rings true today as the Scottish government continues to grow delivery of clean energy through renewables schemes for the 21st Century and also by retaining support for new conventional hydro schemes."

This year Scotland is celebrating the 70^th anniversary of the legislation which began the Highland hydro development boom. A 1943 parliamentary act kick-started the ‘Power from the Glens’ campaign; it brought large-scale hydro power to Scotland's lochs and rivers. After the Hydro Electric Development (Scotland) Act was passed in 1943, work started on the construction of dozens of dams and power stations.

At its peak, the workforce numbered about 12,000 men. After the Second World War, men from all over Scotland came to work on the schemes, attracted by high wages. The Glasa development will be the biggest since the Queen opened the Glendoe pump storage tunnel near Loch Ness some four years ago. Hydro electric power is an important source of energy in Scotland, where there is now some 1.5 gigawatts of capacity, or enough to supply energy to more than 900,000 homes.

A recent report has suggested that the renewable energy industry could create more than 10,000 jobs on Scotland's islands by 2030, according to a government-commissioned study. Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles would benefit from wind, wave and tidal schemes, the Scottish Islands Renewable Project final report stated. The research commissioned by the UK and Scottish governments, also highlighted the necessity of ensuring that those areas were power could be generated were connected to those areas where there was a demand for the power.

The generation of renewable energy could bring "significant benefits" to local economies through direct and indirect jobs. The report estimated that by 2020, 392 full-time jobs could be created on the Western Isles, 463 in Shetland, 416 in Orkney and 3,000 across the rest of the UK. The report suggested that by 2030 the job numbers on the islands could increase to more than 3,500 on the Western Isles, almost 2,900 in Shetland, and more than 4,500 on Orkney.

Other potential benefits of developing the renewable energy industry on Scotland's islands were also highlighted, including that the project could reduce fuel poverty and halting a declining population. Over the last 100 years the isles' population had fallen by 43% to 26,100 in 2011. The isles, researchers noted had a lower gross weekly pay compared with the rest of the UK.

Our country is rich in natural resources, some of which could be used to generate sustainable green energy and energy schemes that will deliver real benefits to our communities. While we do have some serious hydro electric projects in Wales, and not just large scale ones just like they do in Scotland, the real difference is one of scale, history and the political will.

In Wales we are in a difficult situation as while we have some of the powers necessary to create and develop sustainable green energy, what we appear to lack, at least within the current Labour in Wales government is the political will to actually do anything. We need to avoid the grim combination of Con Dem Westminster Government’s indifference (if not hostility) towards green energy and the Labour in Wales Government’s readily apparent lethargy towards smaller scale community beneficial green energy schemes. 

THE RAMSEY SOUND TIDAL ENERGY PROJECT

The Ramsey Sound Tiday Energy Project is being developed by Tidal Energy Ltd who are installing a single DeltaStream unit off the coast of Pembrokeshire at Ramsey Sound for 12 months. The project will demonstrate the capability of DeltaStream as a tidal stream generator and provide evidence on how the device and environment interact. While the project runs the device will be connected to the Local Distribution Network thus allowing the electricity generated by the device to contribute to the renewable energy targets of the Welsh Government. After 12 months, at the completion of the test, the device and all of its associated infrastructure will be removed from the site. Just imagine what we could do if we have a Government in Cardiff Bay that was actually concerned about developing our countries renewable energy resources for our benefit - Just a thought!

AN INDEPENDENT THOUGHT?

Petrol prices have risen again (locally from 129.9 to 133.9 per litre) but as most of us will have noticed by now when it comes to fuel (energy) prices they mostly tend to go up and stay up over the longer term regardless of occasional short-term drops in price. Despite the recession related blips general longer term trend for hydrocarbon prices in much of the world appears to remain steadily upwards.

Partially this is unavoidable due to increasing demands for more energy (particularly from energy hungry India and China), the growing planetary population and the short term nature of our planet’s hydro carbon fuel reserves. This trend is relatively easy to plot (even in the short term) and the medium and long-term consequences of being dependent upon energy resources that you don't actually control should be pretty self evident to even the dimmest Westminster politician.

That said it’s worth noting that there are basically two types of energy resources primary and secondary. Primary energy is energy that is largely supplied without being transformed e.g. crude oil, natural gas, and coal and secondary energy that requires a transformative (often energy intensive and sometimes polluting) process to refine it before it can be used to produce energy.

As of March 2012 around two thirds of UK primary energy demand was met from domestic production. Coal accounted was barely 4% of final energy consumption by fuel in 2010. Almost all UK oil and gas production came from the seas that surround the UK. Peak oil (for the UK) happened in 1999, and Peak gas production took place back in 2000. Since then the UK has moved from a position of relative self-sufficiency to one of dependency on imported oil and gas.

By 2009, imported gas was around 32% of the total gas used. 58% came from Norway, 25% from liquefied natural gas (LNG) from various different countries, 16% came from the Netherlands, and 2% came via the Belgian interconnector pipeline. The increased reliance on imported oil and gas left the UK far more open to supply risks associated with global supply constraints and price volatility. The UK Government periodically punted plans to reduce the need for oil and gas imports, by pushing primary energy production, and by developing low-carbon alternatives such as electric vehicles, biofuels and fuel efficiency.

The writing is not so much on the wall as on TV, as last Tuesday saw the first airing of a Gazprom advert on UK domestic television advert – they sponsor the European Champions League.  Russia has periodically put the squeeze on gas exports to the Ukraine, (currently some 80 per cent of Russian gas exports to the EU flow through the Ukraine) so the real dangers of relying on imported energy from unreliable sources have been clearly highlighted.

Russia (with full coffers) has ridden out most of the consequences of fluctuating oil prices and appears to have managed to avoid any real consequences of declining cash reserves despite its economy being heavily reliant on oil and gas exports. While some countries subsidise their fuel prices (just how sustainable that is over the medium to longer term is open to debate), in the UK this does not happen, so everybody wins, Government gets more tax revenue, the oil companies get more profit, and us the ordinary punters get consistently fleeced.

As for gas, some states have made efforts to protect themselves against external shocks to their energy needs; France was able to store 122 days of gas and Germany able to store 99 days worth (2009 figures). Here in the UK the almost entirely market driven approach turned out to be entirely inadequate, in the UK had a storage capacity which would have lasted for only 15 days (2009 figures). Some countries discuss the issue of energy independence at the highest level here in the UK such talk is best avoided.

New Labour took the best part of a decade to recognise the need to increase storage capacity and the UK has been playing catch up ever since. One consequence of this lack of storage capacity is that UK had to sell gas during the summer and purchase gas again when it is needed in the winter. The Conservative’s headlong dash to gas in the 1980’s was accompanied by a complete failure in strategic energy planning. The situation has been made worse by the current Government's decision to somewhat half-heartedly look at developing diverse reliable alternative energy sources whilst pursing yet another dash for gas.  

The last New Labour Government and the current Con Dem Government largely ignored repeated warnings that the lack of sustainable energy has set the UK on a path towards higher domestic energy prices and potential power blackouts. Over the next four to six years almost all of our old nuclear reactors, along with nine major coal and oil-fired power stations, will be run down and closed, with nothing ready to replace them.

We are now in the situation where we will become even more dependent upon imported gas from either unstable regions or dubious suppliers. The Con Dem’s solution to was to rush to go Nuclear and to effectively hand the Nuclear industry lock stock and barrel over to French energy companies who are busy paying off large loans to the French government. Anyway that was the plan, although the wheels seem to be coming of that particular wagon.

Now Cameron (and Westminster’s) focus is on Shale Oil/Gas as the great panacea for the UK’s energy problems – the problem is unlike primary energy sources the extraction and preparation of shale oil/gas is energy intense and certainly based on the Canadian experience exceptionally polluting. Even if Europe chooses not to chase Shale then developments elsewhere in the world could mean that as had been said elsewhere we can effectively kiss goodbye to curbing climate chance for ever and bequeath rising sea levels, wild weather and pollution to our descendants.

Even if the environmental and pollution issues could be addressed (and we don’t appear to be anywhere close to doing that at the moment ) there are other significant issues. For one, Shale oil/gas is a finite resource, there is just like oil, coal and gas, there is little chance of extracting 100% of reserves. What we may be talking about extracting something like 40 or 50% of it – which might last around 10 years – the big question is what happens then? While we use the brief window of Shale based energy are we going to develop secure energy supplies for the future or is this merely short term fix?

What successive Westminster Governments (since 1997) should have done was to  work with the devolved governments and the Irish Government to make these islands entirely self sufficient via renewable non market driven energy resources run by not for profit companies. They should have developed a flexible self-sufficient energy development strategy that encourages decentralised microgeneration. This could create jobs, useful skills and bootstrap the economy out of the recession as well as helping consumers by delivering community beneficial energy schemes – significantly successive Westminster governments have chosen not to do this.

Wales needs direction not Carwyn’s platitudes when it comes to the development of safe and secure energy resources. The renewable energy sector can play a key role in creating sustainable green energy jobs for local people, not damage the environment and provide our communities with a long-term viable economic energy future, that’s should be the real future dividend for our communities rather than the shareholders in the City or provide well paid jobs on the board for former Westminster politicians. 

ENERGY INDEPENDENT BY 2050

Denmark has announced that it will be 100% energy independent by the year 2050. The country has ambitious plans for alternative energy, which have only recently gained the favour of Denmark's leaders. In previous years, Denmark has considered energy independence and alternative energy in general as a novelty. The country has changed its perspective as alternative energy technology has grown more advanced and efficient. Denmark now has plans to expand its use of solar, wind and biomass energy.

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A LITRE OF THE BLACK STUFF...

Stars: Red = Gas, Green = Oil

Ever since I was a child there has been off and on talk about exploiting the potential oil and gas in the Celtic Sea and the western approaches. Work has been quietly carrying on to explore and exploit the resources in Irish territorial waters for many years. Now what drives oil exploration is commercial viability, Esso first discovered oil of Ireland in the 1970s, but at the time it was perceived not to be a realistic commercial prospect, as oil prices were pretty low at the time. As the oil price has rocketed from around $10 to $15 a barrel to around $125 a barrel and demand has risen this is now longer the case.

The search for the ‘black gold’ off Ireland may now be about to deliver some tangible results. Now an Irish company has found the Irish Republic's first viable oil well. The oil exploration company Providence Resources plc has announced that it has made the discovery some 70km off the Cork coast. The exploratory Barryroe oil well has delivered double the amount of oil needed for future full-scale extraction to make commercial sense.

The exploratory well yield comes in at almost 4,000 barrels of oil a day. Providence Resources Plc incidentally also has drilling permits in Northern Ireland. The company is now seeking international investors to help it exploit the well and the surrounding field, which the firm hopes will contain many further viable wells.

At the moment the bulk of Ireland’s energy comes from imported oil. Oil accounts for over 60% of Ireland’s overall energy consumption, significantly above the EU average. As Ireland’s economy grew, so did their reliance on imported oil. Ireland is also heavily reliant on gas and Ireland’s consumption of gas is increasing rapidly. There is now a major international shift from oil to gas as a source for power generation.

With oil supplies expected to decline in the years to come and growing efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, many see gas as the primary energy source for the 21st century. In Ireland gas is extensively used for heating and more than 60%of our electricity is also generated by power plants fuelled by natural gas. No wonder there is a degree of excitement in Ireland at this discovery.

HE WHO PAYS THE PIPER?

Almost quietly, almost unnoticed and certainly unheralded at least in this part of Western Europe the Nord Stream gas pipeline has come on-line which enables Russia to ship commercial natural gas supplies to Western and Central Europe. The gas pipeline, currently one of the world's longest submerged pipelines has not been without controversy. The pipeline project, which was actively pushed by the Russian government and agreed to by Gerhard Schröder's government of Germany. The project has not been without a degree of controversy for a number of reasons, especially the fact that it increasing European energy dependence on Russia.

Gazprom, nominally an independent energy company but in fact the energy arm of the Kremlin, has a bit a reputation for generously spreading it's largess around to help get what it wants. Some dubious activities may have taken place in Sweden and in Germany to smooth the path for the Nord Stream pipeline. Certainly it is a fact that Schröder, by coincidence after leaving the post of Chancellor of Germany, ended up as head the shareholders' committee of Nord Stream AG.

There is another factor that has set some alarm bells sounding and that’s because the new pipeline may enable Russia to bypass traditional transit countries Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belarus and Poland. Some transit countries are very concerned that a long-term plan of the Kremlin is to attempt to exert political influence on them by threatening their gas supply without affecting supplies to Western Europe.

In recent years there have been several seasonal and very bitter public Russian and Ukrainian gas disputes. Now with Nord Stream there is a real fear that France and Germany may sell the Eastern European countries down the river in exchange for cheap Gas. These fears have been strengthened by the fact that Russia has consistently refused to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT).

The ECT is an old international agreement which should provide a transparent framework for energy trade, transit and investments. The ECT process was originally based on plans to integrating the energy sectors of the then Soviet Union and Eastern Europe just after the end of the Cold War into a much broader European and world energy market.

Nord Stream’s critics have said that Europe could become dangerously over dependent on Russian natural gas supplies, especially if Russia faces a surge in both domestic and a foreign demand for gas. A Swedish Defence Research Agency study noted over 55 incidents since 1991, with "both political and economic underpinnings".

Back in April 2006 Radosław Sikorski, who was then Poland's defence minister, made reference to the project in terms of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. More recently Edward Lucas in his updated (2009) book The New Cold War: Putin's Russia and the Threat to the West, (which is well worth a read) has suggested that "though Nord Stream's backers insist that the project is business pure and simple, this would be easier to believe if it were more transparent."

The involvement of Gazprom in the project – a company that's as great a believer in transparency as its masters in the Kremlin - does not help matters and neither does the fact that Nord Stream AG is incorporated in Switzerland where it can take full advantage of effective banking anonymity. Russia's response has been that the pipeline actually increases Europe's energy security, and that any criticism is caused by bitterness about the loss of significant transit revenues, and political influence. Diplomatically that's as close to ‘Bite me!’ as you can get.

So there we are Russia is quietly supplying a significant portion gas supplies to Western Europe – how soon before we end up hostage to a Russian political agendas. Be silent and get your gas or criticize us over Human rights or when we attack a small country or chill in the leak midwinter! I have no yearning for a new cold war, but harsh realities, but the writing may be on the wall when it comes to energy security.

Relying on energy supplies that are at risk of interruption or are found in unstable regions of the world is just plain stupidity, as is consciously choosing to become more increasingly dependent on imported gas. If you think that the members of the big six give customers a hard time just wait until one or two of them get bought by Gazprom no doubt ably assisted by the city based friends of New Labour and the Conservatives, ever eager to chase a quick profit at our expense.

Here in Wales, a small country on the fringe of Europe, we had better take note and hope that we can rapidly make our small country energy independent. We need to develop a flexible self-sufficient energy development strategy that encourages decentralised micro generation schemes and by actually implementing it this could create jobs, useful skills and help to bootstrap the economy out of the developing recession as well as helping consumers. The peoples of these islands need to be entirely self sufficient via renewable non nuclear non market driven energy resources and quickly.