EMPTY PROMISES

When it comes to one of the old imagined rules of the political game, never to promise what you have no intention of delivering save to try an gain votes, the three main London based parties stand guilty as charged. Particularly when it comes to energy, all three of them pledged to raise the MW threshold for planning control of energy projects in Wales to varying degrees, yet all have done next to nothing to try to deliver.

Back in April, much was promised, including:

Welsh Conservative Manifesto 2011:

“[Will] continue to make the case for devolving power over energy projects up to 100 MW.”

Welsh Labour Manifesto 2011:

“Continue to seek responsibility for renewable energy consents up to 100MW on both sea and land, enabling Wales to move quicker in providing clean energy solutions for all.”

Welsh Lib Dems Manifesto 2011:

“We will also examine whether new areas of responsibility, such as powers regarding policing or large-scale energy generation can deliver improved results for the people of Wales. Specifically, we will make the case for powers over larger energy projects and policing and justice.”

Promises are clearly one thing, clearly actions another, recently the Con Dem Government energy minister Greg Barker announced that the coalition government would reserve these powers in Westminster, so much for manifesto promises made by the UK coalition parties to the Welsh electorate. This means that the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change will take control of energy powers currently held by the shortly to be disbanded Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), so much for democratic accountability.

In the last Welsh General election, the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems all made the case for further devolution of energy powers, yet these were mere empty promises. The local Welsh franchise of the London based Lib Dems and Tories from Wales have been shown to have zero influence on their masters in London, just like Labour in Wales during the Blair and Brown years.

At the moment the National Assembly has the power to control or give permission for new or increased electricity generating stations up to 50MW. This arbitrary limit has been imposed on Wales for no particular reason; oddly enough the Scottish people have complete control over the utilisation of their resources. At the moment there are two separate energy agendas operating in Wales. Why should an energy project with 49MW generating capacity be decided on by the Assembly one over 51MW by the Secretary of State in Westminster?

Now Plaid rightly opposed the creation of the IPC because it was undemocratic when was brought in as part of New Labour’s 2008 Planning Act. And Plaid also rightly welcomed the decision to pull the plug on it, but understandably not the lack of clarity as to where those powers should sit?

There is no justification for denying the Welsh people parity with Scotland when it comes to control of the planning process for energy developments. The bottom line is that control of natural resources and energy policy should be devolved to Wales for reasons of simple common sense and simple practicality, or perhaps as far as the London based parties are concerned Wales simply does not matter or count.

THE NUCLEAR CONVERSATION

Post-election it seems to have gone pretty quiet at Westminster in relation to developing sustainable green energy - we have yet to see what damage the 'new financial reality / austerity' will inflict on efforts to develop alternative sustainable green energy. The Nuclear option may well still be on the table, one significant question that needs to be addressed is who will be sat around the table if and when the Nuclear conversation takes place. 

The Scottish Government will be a full party to any discussions about the construction of any new generation of Nuclear power plants in Scotland and along with the Scottish people it will play a full part in the planning process. In Wales things are quite different, the National Assembly may end up as a coat holder, actioning decisions made elsewhere in relation to Energy Policy in general and Nuclear Energy in particular.

Now this fact should be a matter of serious concern, especially when it comes to Nuclear Energy developments that may take place within or near to Wales - any planning processes related to Energy provision should take place with the full involvement of the people of Wales and their elected representatives and alternative energy generation schemes should be fully and seriously considered as well - this may not however, be the case.

The failure to devolve control of planning consent for 50MW power generation projects to the National Assembly when combined with the role of the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) runs the risk of damaging our economic prospects for only with complete planning control over power generation can Wales generate long–term sustainable job opportunities.

The final years of the New Labour Government (if government is an appropriate word for it) may well end up by being written off as a literal case of the lights being on but nobody being at home. there were few new or fresh original ideas about solving our energy problems. Back in 2008, Gordon Brown's cabinet rubber stamped Tony Blair's decision to back the nuclear option to solve the UK energy needs.

This decision was both disappointing and short-sighted, but, was not unexpected. By making nuclear power its priority the failing Brown Government effectively abandoned any serious attempts to conserve energy, and significantly undermined its own commitments to tackling climate change.

When it comes to power generation there are real job opportunities here that need to be fully grasped; the renewable energy sector should play an immensely important role in creating more green energy jobs. We need to create a decentralised power generation system which will create sustainable long-term jobs for local people, not damage the environment and contribute to providing our local communities with a long-term viable economic energy future.

Now is definitely the time for control of energy policy to be devolved to the National Assembly and time for some original non nuclear thinking and a fundamental sea change in attitude from all levels of government in Wales towards energy policy.

The Scottish Government has already set out a wide-ranging vision to address climate change, which includes a drive to boost renewable energy such as wind and wave power. Scottish Ministers also aim to see significant progress in boosting the energy efficiency of buildings, increase the number of electric vehicles on the roads and aim to cut in emissions across the farming and rural sector.

This is serious forward thinking on the part of the Scottish government as energy experts have for several years been consistently warning of a serious future shortfall in Britain's energy supplies, as a result of the rapid depletion of Britain's North Sea gas reserves, the increasingly tough regulations on carbon emissions from Britain's ageing coal-fired power plants and the planned decommissioning of 14 of 15 existing nuclear generating stations by 2025.

Imagine what we could do if the National Assembly possessed similar powers to develop the alternative energy sector here in Wales. In Wales, we need real direction when it comes to the development of safe and secure energy resources, power generation can provide the potential for real sustainable long term job opportunities; the renewable energy sector can and should play an immensely important role in creating more green energy jobs.

Beyond this there is a need to unify the power generation and supply companies into a single entity, preferably run on a not for profit basis, in the interests of the inhabitants of the UK rather than big businesses. A growing number of people are coming around to the conclusion that this decision was influenced by an unholy combination of irresponsibility and self-interest - it's certainly worth having a look to see which former Conservative and New Labour Minster's have made that transition from Government benches to the Boardroom over the years since energy privatisation.

Whether or not it was a matter of irresponsibility for successive Conservative and New Labour Government's to leave the energy sector largely and effectively unregulated as the private energy companies - is probably no longer open for discussion. The Energy companies have proved themselves almost entirely incapable of making long term strategic decisions that are necessary to provide us with safe and secure energy.

A MATTER OF DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY

Energy is one of the big issues that will affect all of Wales over the next 100 years, it has never made any sense for Westminster to make decisions in relation to energy development, power stations and big wind farm schemes in Wales, the development of which will impact on our communities in as many ways as we can imagine. The current set up means that any energy schemes applications where the proposed operating capacity is greater than 50 megawatts is made in Westminster, rather than Cardiff.

Peter Hain’s recent mutterings about devolving decision making to Wales (Dragon's Eye (16th June) are somewhat ironic considering that New (Old) Labour at Westminster did its best to block further devolving of decision making in a whole variety of fields to Wales. I would think that recent revelations about how the previous New Labour Government at Westminster worked to water down a proposal to limit the acceptable level of noise from wind farms enhances the case for decisions to be taken at the National Assembly.

Rhodri Glyn Thomas, AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, said:

“Energy is a big issue in Wales and it is ridiculous that under current arrangements decisions about which projects should be approved are taken outside Wales, often by people who don't know our country and who in any case are unaccountable to our communities. As an AM, I feel powerless in this situation. When people come to see me about planning applications that are being made, I have to tell them there is very little I can do to help, despite having been elected to represent them. I think it would be much better if decisions about these projects were taken in Wales, based on reasonable grounds that help the drive against climate change while taking account of residents legitimate concerns.”

A fair point…especially as the ConDem coalition agreement states that the fundamentally undemocratic Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) is to be scrapped. The IPC, which one of dying New Labour’s more questionable creations, only became operational in October 2009, with its mission being to speed up the planning process for energy projects, many of which had been delayed for years because of lengthy public inquiries.

This Quango which was opposed by environmental groups and many others who see it as a fundamentally unaccountable body which would enable Government to ride roughshod over local objections to unpopular development projects, except in Scotland, where the Scots control their energy policy and energy development - unlike here in Wales. 

So with the coalition Government planning to bring in legislation sometime next year to abolish the IPC and transfer its functions back to Westminster where does this leave Wales and the Welsh people – so much for democratic accountability.

THE WAVEOF THE FUTURE

In Scotland, the SNP Government is overseeing the development of a new generation of prototype wave power machines. This as Alex Salmond has pointed out is "another significant step" in Scotland's journey to become the green energy powerhouse of Europe.

The wave power machine, which was built in Leith, is some 180m long, weighs 1,500 tonnes and can produce 750kW of electricity. The Vagr Atferd generator is being transported to Orkney, where it will be tested in situ for three years to prepare it for commercial use. 

I mention this for a variety of reasons, one being that if you have proper powers in relation to energy development and the political will it is amazing what you can achieve. Also, energy (and energy cost) is a key issue in Scotland, there was a debate in the Scottish Parliament (on the 21st April 2010) which looked at the charges that Scotland pays to connect to the National Grid.

Basically it works like this; electricity produced not far from me here can cost me far more per kilowatt than it can someone who lives in the south-east of England. In Scotland, electricity industry leaders have been demanding an end to the 'unfair' practice, saying that these costs may have an impact on the development of some renewable electricity generation projects causing some to be delayed or abandoned.

Now transmission charges, which electricity generators pay for the cost of the national electricity grid, are a touchy subject not just for energy producers but also for energy users. The charges vary according to how far a power source is located from the main centre of demand, which is London.

So what this means is that in the north of Scotland for example, generators are charged £20.08p per kilowatt but in Central London a power source receives a subsidy of £6.41p per kilowatt. Subsidies are payable across most of southern England.

The National Grid naturally argues that the differentials encourage companies to locate power plants close to demand centres, cutting the costs of the national transmission network and reducing consumers' bills. National Grid are also on record arguing that stronger winds in northern Scotland meant that wind farms situated there generated more power than their southern counterparts and logically could afford to pay the higher transmission changes.

National Grid, a private company regulated by Ofgem, has been looking at how the costs of providing this infrastructure can be recovered from electricity producers and consumers. It has been using its existing pricing, which is already controversial in Scotland because it imposes higher charges on Scottish electricity producers to compensate for the cost of sending power to the main areas of demand in southern England.

The bottom line is that because Scotland generates more power than it consumes and decide to send it south to England they get penalised. While this may be a fact of life, it is decidedly unfair. This is all relevant because, according Jane Davidson AM, the Environment Minister to Wales (July 31, 2009) in Wales we use around 24 TWhr of electricity per year. WAG back in July 2009 then believed that with sufficient innovation and investment, the right Government framework and public support, Wales could produce over 33TWhr per year of electricity from renewable sources. 

For the record, in Scotland, which has a far stronger devolution settlement, has full powers for energy projects over 50mw. These powers for Wales now lie with New Labour’s lasting legacy - the unelected Infrastructure Planning Commission. The IPC is based outside of Wales and contains no representative or commissioner from Wales, yet is involved (as of 31st March 2010) in 9 projects either or the Welsh coast or in Wales. 

Interestingly enough successive Scottish administrations regardless of their political hue have pursued energy agendas which have ruled out nuclear power. One thing is certain we need a real debate about developing an energy strategy for Wales, one that encourages and empowers small energy producers.

To do this properly we need to make sure that the issue of the devolution of power consents for power stations over 50 Megawatts takes place sooner rather than later. In the meantime, National Grid must be rubbing their hands with glee at the prospects of more revenue. Potential alternative and sustainable energy generators in Wales beware…