UK Energy Infrastructure (Wales)

Nia Griffith Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2013 Westminster Hall

[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.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend makes the point that Wales is not as densely populated as England, but it has a growing number of energy sources, from the energy island of Anglesey in the north right down to the south. There are large projects and smaller community ones, with a growing number of solar panels. Does my hon. Friend share my concern that the grid infrastructure must be of sufficient capacity to cope with that, and to ensure not only that people can feed in the energy from their solar panels but that the energy, which will be generated in Wales, is fed in properly to the national grid system in the most efficient and cost-effective way?

[Geraint Davies]

Yes, I certainly agree. My understanding is that Wales produces about 27,300 GWh of energy, but that nets down to about 22,000 GWh because of inefficiencies in transmission. The issue of energy loss is very important. We need to run a sophisticated and effective network, which pays due regard to environmental impacts and therefore to the economic impacts on tourism. I am not putting to one side the important subjective impacts on people’s everyday quality of life, but there are also quantifiable economic impacts.

Coming back to the Swansea Lagoon, the Minister might want to comment on whether an evaluation of the impacts on tourism has been done. The construction phase would create discontinuity for retail and tourism. If the sea bed was dug up—which it would be—to provide some of the material for the wall, would that generate a lot of contamination from industrial waste brought up with it? Is the visual impact shown on the promotional literature accurate or slightly misleading?

Is the Minister comfortable with the fact that there is an opportunity now for local investors to put down a £800 stake and get £3,800 back if planning permission is granted? That means that local opinion makers, such as me, are under a lot of pressure from people who have put the £800 down. All the risks are taken by local people. There are fears that when the tide went down there would be an unsightly view which would block the iconic view from the town centre, Town Hill and the Uplands. In addition, given that in future years we want to pursue the idea of a Dylan Thomas festival on a scale more akin to that of Hay, there is a question as to whether the perimeter of the construction—its footprint is nearly as big as Cardiff—would impede future cruise-borne tourism in Swansea bay.

There are therefore several questions—I do not know whether the Minister has any preliminary answers—about the environmental and economic impact, and the trajectory of the short-term problems and of where we will end up if we want a more strategic development of the bay front and then have a lagoon. It may work out well, but those are important questions.

I also want to touch on the Atlantic Array, which, as hon. Members may know, is a bold and imaginative opportunity to have wind turbines offshore. They would be about 12 km offshore, but the National Trust has told me that the Germans normally want them 35 km offshore, so that is an issue. This may sound strange, but, importantly, the biggest harbour porpoise population in Britain is in that vicinity; one of a similar size is in Cardigan bay. Apart from not wanting to disturb that habitat, there is a question mark in relation to future environmental tourism over whether that habitat might be so disturbed by the erection of pylons that those breeding grounds move for ever. I want to make it clear that, in principle, I am in favour of such developments offshore.

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[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.

[Nia Griffith]

The Minister mentions the large number of projects in the pipeline. Whenever I have asked whether the Department of Energy and Climate Change has any central records of the number of biomass applications, I am always told that only local authorities know about the applications. It concerns me that we may be reaching a situation in which we are no longer able to supply our biomass plants from local sources, which I find acceptable, and that we end up importing from much less acceptable sources, which may be deforesting the world. Can his Department set up a register so that we have some idea about where we are running to in the future, otherwise we may find that we have biomass plants that can be sourced only from unacceptable sources, which would be a bad place to be?

[Michael Fallon]

That is an important issue, and one that I have been discussing recently with the domestic wood industry, especially the wood panel industry. I am aware that the Scottish Government require of a biomass plant a plan that shows exactly how sustainable the feedstock is likely to be. If I may, I should like to reply to the hon. Lady in writing, after a little more thought.

As I was saying, Wales is now seeing huge investment in its renewable energy infrastructure. Wales already accounts for around 6% of overall UK renewables. Since 2010, £1.3 billion of investment has been announced in renewable generation in Wales, potentially supporting around 2,000 jobs.

Just last week, the Secretary of State visited the site of the Pen-y-Cymoedd wind farm in south Wales, which is set to be the largest onshore wind farm in Wales and England. The announcement from Vattenfall that construction is to commence on the 76 turbines on the site in 2014, with the first power being generated for the National Grid in late 2016, is welcome news. That project alone represents more than £400 million of investment, creating around 300 jobs, and providing power to 140,000 homes. Furthermore, Vattenfall has confirmed that it will also invest £1.8 million every year in community funds for the 25-year life of the wind farm, ensuring wider benefits for local people.

This is also an exciting time for nuclear new build here in the UK. We were delighted to welcome Hitachi to the new nuclear market in Britain last October, with its purchase of Horizon Nuclear Power. Hitachi brings with it significant experience of building reactors and it holds an excellent track record for building on time and to budget. The first site it is planning to develop in the United Kingdom is Wylfa on Anglesey.

Hitachi is keen to develop its long-standing programme of industrial development in Wales. Horizon held successful supply chain events in Llandudno in May and in Gloucester, which I attended, which attracted some 400 business representatives. Hitachi’s entry to the new nuclear market shows just what a highly attractive proposition new nuclear is and reflects the strength of the Horizon project. I want to assure hon. Members that the Government are firmly committed to ensuring that new nuclear goes ahead in the UK and that all parts of the UK will benefit from it.