- Cymraeg
- English
Renewable Energy in Wales
June 20, 2008 12:00 AM
By Mick Bates in The House Magazine
By Mick Bates in The House Magazine
As a farmer and ex science teacher green issues have always dominated my agenda. As a politician, my ambition is to build a sustainable future for Wales. In 1999 as a positive move to promote renewable energy developments in Wales I founded the National Assembly Sustainable Energy Group, with Cynog Dafis and the late Professor Phil Williams and as a cross party group we have achieved much to promote renewable energy development across Wales.
The Assembly Government currently has a target to produce 4TWh of electricity from renewable sources by 2010. We now have an even more ambitious target of 33TWh per year proposed under the Renewable Energy Route Map. As Wales currently consumes only 4% of electricity from renewable sources and total output for renewable electricity is currently 1.79TWh, the 2010 target will not be met without substantial investment and a radical advance in policy.
Having the power over developments above 50MW is crucial to reaching our targets. Equally, we must ensure that we have our say in developments shared between England and Wales, such as the topical Severn Barrage. Furthermore, it is vital that our voice in Wales is not undermined by the new Infrastructure Planning Commission created under the Planning Bill.
The good news for Wales is that we have the technology and the know-how to achieve massive carbon reductions and we are blessed with an abundance of natural resources that can be harnessed for renewable energy. There is immense potential for biomass, we have the best wind power resource in Europe and there is a vast marine resource waiting to be explored.
As a party the Liberal Democrats favour decentralised renewable energy, by securing indigenous energy supplies. This will help to build a strong local economy but in order to make localised power a reality, the Government needs to invest in the infrastructure to distribute the electricity produced.
Important links are being established with higher education institutions, to commercialise new ideas for renewable energy. The future lies in encouraging more entrepreneurs to build an industrial manufacturing base here in Wales. Alongside this we need to ensure that Wales benefits from the renewable energy production that we already have, such as the large photovoltaic manufacturing facility in Wrexham.
Small scale renewable developments are already part of our devolved competence and we have targets to install 30,000 electricity and heating units by 2012 and 300,000 units by 2020. There is a long way to go and so far the Assembly Government offers no real incentives. Feed-in-tariffs have boosted renewable energy across Europe and we need this scheme in Wales, as well as a Welsh grant scheme for micro-generation.
One of the biggest successes in Wales lies at community level, where both vision and action have combined to produce excellent local projects which must be exemplified and promoted. Pioneering companies are leading the way in renewable energy, such as Dulas, Sundance Renewables, Llani Solar, Swan Turbines, Filsol and Awel Aman Tawe, to name but a few.
However stronger political support and more coherence between government policies and local planning authorities is crucial. Top priorities for the Assembly Government should be a Merton style rule for housing. Also, ensuring that all schools, hospitals and public buildings use renewable energy to become examples of best practice in environmental standards. Planners will soon become the heroes of the future as they put this vision into action!
Addressing climate change will require a makeover of the global economy and a radical change in attitudes and behaviour. There is a lot to be done but I hope that we can work together to build a sustainable future for Wales by taking action now. This action is crucial otherwise as Stern highlighted, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be dramatic.
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats