UK Energy Infrastructure (Wales)

Glyn Davies Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Westminster Hall

[Geraint Davies]

I completely agree. The big political debate is the balance between growth and cuts to get down the deficit, and we need to focus on growth, which means investment in infrastructure. We need to get the right gauges for freight—from Milford Haven, Swansea, Cardiff or Newport—and we need to move around universal freight modules, which are ship-carried in many instances, and energy from power stations, as my hon. Friend mentioned. There is a case for investment now, given the expected future income from new energy sources in Wales. There has been some discussion of a barrage that might generate up to 16,500 GWh, which would be 5% of UK energy, but the idea has clearly been kicked into touch, partly by the European habitats directive.

Meanwhile, the Swansea Lagoon is a big issue in the local press. It could generate some 400 GWh, which would be 0.1% of UK consumption and 2% of what the barrage could produce. That is a relatively small level of production, but it is big scheme in that it would take £650 million to build, with its footprint extending from Swansea docks halfway to Mumbles pier. The electricity produced would be enough for about 121,000 households, but it would be for the UK grid and not for Swansea itself, which has about that many households. I am concerned, therefore, that on balance the development is at least neutral in tourism terms. We hope to become the UK city of culture in 2017—we are on the shortlist of four—and next year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Dylan Thomas’s birth. We have high hopes for prosperity from cultural tourism in the emerging Swansea Bay city region, so preserving our iconic view is enormously important to us locally.

[Glyn Davies (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

I thank my near namesake for allowing me to intervene. He focuses on tourism, and green tourism is a hugely important part of the economy in my constituency. At the moment, we face six wind farm applications without any knowledge of how the infrastructure will take the power out. If the mad scheme goes ahead, it will be absolutely crucial that the infrastructure is undergrounded, and that will not happen without Government pressure. It is vital that the whole line be undergrounded, because of the damage it would do to the economy.

[Geraint Davies]

The hon. Gentleman makes the point well that there needs to be a balance between the value of the electricity and the prospective value of the tourism. Aerial views show that England is relatively densely populated and Wales relatively sparsely, and that will be a key asset for our environmental tourism. We want to think strategically, therefore, about where our energy production is. With wind, there needs to be access up the Severn estuary to the grid at Hinkley Point or Port Talbot, but there is less of a case for pylons right into the centre of Wales. I respect the fact that some of these issues are devolved, but we need a balance because we are talking about a once-and-for-all change to our views and to the value of our tourism. Once the infrastructure goes up it will not be pulled down, so we need carefully to consider the pros and the cons.

--- Later in debate ---

[Michael Fallon]

I was in fact coming to exactly that point. Wales will benefit, and to some extent already benefits, from the steps we are taking to ensure the investment in infrastructure that we need. We are committed to providing the certainty that industry wants and to ensuring that the UK, including Wales, is one of the best places in the world to invest in low-carbon electricity generation. Our electricity market reforms are critical to that. As we know, a large proportion of our existing capacity—the equivalent of about 18 large power stations—has to close by the end of the decade. At the same time, we may need as much as double today’s electricity capacity by 2050 to deal with growing demand from the electrification of transport, heating and industry.

To meet our legally binding carbon targets, significant new electricity generating capacity will be needed by 2030, most of which has to come from low-carbon technologies, such as nuclear, renewables and fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage. By 2050, emissions from the power sector must be close to zero. The reforms that we are delivering through the Energy Bill and electricity market reform will be the biggest change to the market since privatisation and will transform the sector.

I am pleased to say that today, as planned, we have published the draft delivery plan that sets out the detail of how the Government will drive investment in low-carbon technology while securing electricity supplies at lower cost to consumers. Electricity market reform is now at the implementation stage in preparation for its introduction next year.

The challenge now is to unlock the investment, and I believe that Wales is well placed to do so. We have already seen success in Wales. Since 2010, my Department has granted consent to five major energy infrastructure projects there, covering a wide range of types of infrastructure, including onshore wind farms, biomass plants, and tidal and gas generation. In total, the projects already given consent alone can provide a generating capacity of about 1.5 GW, which is enough to power more 1.5 million homes. Many more projects are in the pipeline: developers in Wales have registered an interest with the Planning Inspectorate in relation to bringing forward 17 more major projects that all have the potential to lead to significant jobs and investment there, as well as to increasing our energy security and reducing carbon emissions.

[Glyn Davies]

The one part of the thinking about which I have not so far heard from the Minister is local opinion. There was a recent statement on the impact of local opinion on the Government’s view about smaller wind farms. In mid-Wales, we face a large number of very big wind farms. In general, does the Minister feel that local opinion should have a key place in the consideration of larger wind farms in Wales?

[Michael Fallon]

My hon. Friend knows that I cannot comment on individual applications or on those in his constituency, but the whole intent of our recent statement was to secure a greater degree of involvement for local communities through their being consulted before the submission of applications and having the ability to take into account wider considerations, such as visibility or the visual impact and the cumulative impact of successive applications in one locality. I hope that that will do something to redress the balance between developers and communities.