ELECTRIFYING THE VALLEYS

Much hangs on the Comprehensive Spending Review, including the fate of the £1.1 billion pound Swansea to London rail electrification project. Plaid's Ieuan Wyn Jones successfully negotiated the multi-million pound the extension of the proposed upgrade and electrification of the rail line between Swansea and London last year.

The electrification scheme was originally proposed by New Labour it was to go only intended to extend as far as Bristol, and only after the intervention of the Plaid driven One Wales Government did they agreed to electrify the line as far as Swansea.

The ConDem Government in Westminster, if one was being kind could be described as evasive when it comes to committing to the extending the electrification programme into Wales - so much for Wales being a ConDem priority. Now of course it hangs by a thread (alongside much else) as we await the financial white smoke from the Treasury.

One question that should be asked is are we too focused on the rail link to London, which has long needed electrification. Here are some statistics to think about:

Electrified Rail in Europe

Switzerland: 100%
Sweden: 77%
Netherlands: 73%
Italy: 69%
Germany: 56%
Spain: 56%
UK: 40%
 
Source: UIC Website: http://uic.asso.fr

Electrified Rail in Wales (After 13 years of New Labour Government).

Wales: 0%

Pretty disgraceful if you ask me? It has been suggested that this particular rail project be put on the back burner so to speak and serious consideration be given to electrifying the valley lines down to the coastal belt. What we are talking about is the Ebbw Vale to Cardiff (and Newport) line, the lines in Western Gwent, the lines down from Rhondda, Cynon and Taff Valleys to Cardiff and lines into Swansea and Bridgend.

I would love to say that it was my idea, but, it's not Sion Barry (in the Western Mail) mentioned it on Friday 24th September. Now if we get creative and use part of WAG's Annual Transport budget, which comes in at around £0.76 billion. If we make creative use of European matched funding then we could be talking about doing the business. Sion Barry - estimating some £200 million for the valley lines into Cardiff. We can do the London link later, lets do something lasting for our Valley communities and lets look doing it now.

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…

Ouch!

There we are then! The New Labour's Chancellor has not recognised the real need to support businesses - these cuts should not be implemented now, particularly as we in Wales are facing difficult economic times.

What we needed was the necessary financial stimulus to protect Wales from the impact of this recession - we did not get it. With our economy facing an extremely difficult period, the Welsh Assembly Government will face a significant challenge merely to manage these funding cuts in revenue which will amount to £216 million next year not to mention further cuts to capital expenditure.

We need to support our businesses and the training needs of our companies this year and into next year, it would have been prudent for any efficiency savings to have been delayed until the recession is over, and for them to be implemented when the economy starts to grow again.

The hard working people of Wales did not land us in this economic mess, it was the failure of the UK Government to deal with unregulated and irresponsible lending over the last 10 year that has landed us where we are now.

Sadly this budget only underlines the fact that the UK Chancellor does not understand that it was New Labour's failure to regulate the financial sector that was so disastrous - the end result being that financially viable prosperous businesses are not able to access the necessary cash to survive.

Welsh Public services will now face intense pressure after the cuts announced in this Budget filter through. The UK Government has admitted in the Budget that Welsh public services will be facing huge cuts as a result of a £15bn reduction in public service spending that was confirmed today.

When taking these and other already announced cuts into account, public services in Wales will be around one billion pounds per year worse off by 2013-14. The consequences of this upon the Welsh economy are frightening and are directly attributable to Labour’s mis-management of the UK economy.

Ouch indeed!