MAKING THE RIGHT DECISION

The news that the latest sets of questionable plans for a £25 billion pound barrage across the Severn Estuary have been kicked into touch by MPs at Westminster should be welcomed. The House of Commons' Energy and Climate Change Committee criticised a "lack of information and noted a perceived lack of transparency" about the proposal.

The MPs stated that the case for the barrage is "unproven" and that Hafren Power had failed to provide robust and independently verified evidence of the economic, environmental and technological viability of the project. The MPs were warned about the potential of job losses in nearby ports, and came to the conclusion that the barrage scheme did not provide a solution to meeting renewable energy targets and it should not go ahead in its current form.

Hafren Power wanted to build an 11-mile barrage between Lavernock Point near Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, and Brean near Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. In their report MPs said Hafren had failed to make the case that it would be good for the economy or the environment.

This is a sensible decision on the part of MPs in Westminster should, mean that the way is clear to consider more sustainable less environmentally damaging energy schemes. There are plenty of potential options out there including tidal lagoons (as proposed for Swansea Bay), tidal fences and wave power projects which could produce far more energy over a far longer period (and generate sustainable jobs).

When it comes to generating energy and jobs (here in Wales) it is well worth noting that both New Labour and the Conservatives failed to honour their Welsh general election manifesto promise in 2011 to increase the 1 MW limit for off-shore and 50 MW for on-shore threshold for planning for energy projects – something that does not help us here in Wales. This failure effectively threatens to prevent the development of potential energy schemes above that threshold as they have to be decided in Westminster rather than in Wales.

Back in January 2012, Plaid MP Jonathan Edwards called for energy powers to be transferred to the Welsh Government; his bill would have given the Welsh Government powers over energy generation in Wales. The bill (which was blocked by Labour and Conservative MPs, defeated by 239 votes to 44) would have ensured equality with Scotland and Northern Ireland and would have meant that Wales would have been better placed to fight fuel poverty with responsibility for our own resources.

I have for some time had serious concerns about any proposed Severn Barrage, it does not generate enough energy over a long enough period to justify the cost and it would be environmentally damaging. A more logical solution would be to build tidal lagoons, the one proposed for Swansea Bay would be ideal to test out the technology. Previous attempts to develop this technology (here in Wales) have been repeatedly stalled and delayed by a hostile Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and then powerless (but now vision-less and clueless) Welsh Government.

The last thing we seriously need to do is limit the amount of sustainable energy we can develop, we need to maximise the period of generation well beyond the 3 hour energy pulse offered by all previous incarnations of the barrage. A combination of tidal lagoons and other energy schemes could offer release energy for a far longer period than 3 hours and minimise any damage to the environment. By using a variety of options we could generate sustainable jobs and make Wales a world leader in developing the energy generation technology.

POOR AND DEPENDENT WEST BRITONS?

There is no reason why our country cannot be a self-reliant prosperous nation; the Welsh people are not predisposed by way of education, outlook or aspiration to be a poor people. Yet if you listen to Labour in Wales we will always be poor, we will have few economic prospects beyond handouts and independence is unaffordable, etc.  Like any simple untruth, keep it simple, repeat it often enough and people will start to believe it.

The fact that some parts of our country are suffering from a prolonged downward economic spiral that predates Labour in Westminster’s last period in power and the financial collapse should be noted. What our communities are facing now are the consequences of decisions generations of unionist (mostly Labour) politicians have consistently failed to make on behalf of Wales which are now impacting on our communities from one end of our country to the other.

Aside from the desire to make things better and the vision (something I believe that Labour in Wales is incapable of delivering) a Welsh government needs to have powers over our countries natural resources. We need to be able at a basic level to regulate, develop, control and own our sustainable energy (basically wind, water, wave and solar) resources. With the right leadership and some medium to long term thinking there is no reason why Wales cannot play a leading role in the development of a global low-carbon economy.

As a nation, when it comes to natural resources Wales is rich by way of comparison with some developing countries, our natural resources sustainably used could underpin a first class economy. The current devolution prevents a Welsh government from doing this even if it wanted too. Not for nothing was Water excluded specifically by the Labour in Westminster Government from the National Assembly’s powers and only energy projects up to 50MW (on shore) and 1 MW off-shore come under  the control of the National Assembly.

We need a Sovereign Wealth Fund for Wales to make sure that the benefits of the green energy revolution stay here rather than feeding shareholder dividends in the city (and elsewhere) and are used to ensure that the people of Wales get their full share of the energy and wealth created. Such a fund could act as a guarantee for further borrowing and could build to be an impressive multi-million pound source of funding. Some of which could be used to offer loans for small micro-generation projects.

The way things work at the moment wind farm developments tend make token gestures towards feeding some of their subsidized profits towards local communities. At best this might be considered patronizing, especially as local communities (along with the Welsh Government) are effectively excluded from any meaningful participation in the planning process if the development is over 50MW in size.

One size does not fit all, our Communities should be able to develop and benefit from small scale renewable energy projects and regeneration projects in their own areas. If we do this right then we can develop more community leadership, grow local ownership of renewable energy projects and develop more cooperative models of ownership. People living in communities close to renewable energy installations should also receive the benefits of discounted energy and local dividends for community projects.

If we do this right then our communities and our country can become less dependent and we can become more self-reliant socially and economically, ironically Labour in Wales, who are part of the problem rather than the solution, would no doubt come up with reasons to oppose any of this. We also need to ensure that democratic accountability and planning gain is built into the energy development process and that our communities are able benefit from community beneficial energy projects.