Wales could be energy self-sufficient

Wales could become a self-sufficient energy producer by harnessing a range of cutting-edge tidal power projects, Welsh Assembly Environment Minister Jane Davidson said.

Setting out her vision for the future of Wales’ renewable energy, she told the Western Mail that she had:

• Received proposals to build one of the world’s largest tidal stream power stations;
• The renewables industry had the potential to create 7,000 new Welsh jobs by 2011; and
• Wales could become the world’s first country to pioneer innovative new tidal lagoon technology.

The centrepiece of her thinking involved harnessing clean, carbon-free energy from the Welsh coastline.
Ms Davidson said she would like to see Wales at the “global cutting edge” of tidal power, as suggested by leading Welsh scientist Sir John Houghton.
Sir John is the former chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who is to attend when the Nobel Peace Prize is presented to former US Vice-President Al Gore next month.
Fitting in with those aspirations, Ms Davidson revealed how she had received initial proposals from energy supplier E.ON and Lunar Energy to build one of the world’s largest tidal stream power stations.
These plans would be in addition to the long-standing proposal to build a tidal barrage across the Severn Estuary, and also separate plans to create tidal lagoons around the Welsh coast.
“We may be a small nation but I want to see us being seen as lean, clean and green,” she said.
“I’m absolutely in support of tidal power and making the most of our 1,300-km (807 miles) of coastline and our high tidal range.
“No tidal lagoons have been built anywhere in the world yet and there are potential areas for them in Swansea and in Rhyl.
“They would of course have to be tested to see what they deliver and their impacts on the areas and shipping.
“I believe we have the resources in Wales to become a self-sufficient nation and I will reveal more details on this in the New Year.”
Speaking at the annual Carbon Trust conference in Cardiff, Ms Davidson also urged Welsh businesses to explore forms of renewable energy. She said the environmental industry sector currently involved 1,300 companies in Wales that are worth £1.2 Billion annually – but that those figures could increase significantly in the near future. “The sector that includes waste reduction, recycling and renewable energy, has the potential to create up to 7,000 jobs in the next three years,” she added.
“I feel privileged as the first Minister for Climate Change in Wales and I take very seriously indeed our target of achieving an annual 3% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2011.
“We have set an ambitious aspiration that all new buildings in Wales should be zero carbon from 2011.”
Wales had the 12th highest carbon emissions in the world in 2004.
Ms Davidson said that ranking was largely down to our legacy of heavy industries and admitted there is “a big challenge ahead”.
But she said an AEA Energy and Environment Greenhouse Gas Inventory published in September, showed that for Wales in 2005 there was a 9% decrease in greenhouse gases and a 4% decrease in CO² emissions, compared to 1990.
She added, “We have to start somewhere.
“And we are doing quite a lot at the moment and we need to work across all sectors.
“We need to see a sustained reduction over time.”
She confirmed that the Assembly “sees no need” for any new nuclear build, although it has asked for an extension of the life of Wales’ only remaining nuclear plant.
Wylfa, in North Wales, is due for decommissioning in 2010, but an extension is seen as crucial to the survival of Anglesey Steelworks, which it supplies.
Meanwhile Ms Davidson said she supported wind farm energy generation which “only takes up 10% of the landscape of Wales”, excluding designated of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Parks.
And in terms of the steps she is personally taking to combat climate change, the Minister said she had not yet measured her own carbon footprint because she is going to launch her own carbon calculator in January.
But she admitted to flying to Africa twice last year on a welfare visit, because there was “no alternative”.
She added, “Just like WWF or Oxfam, I only fly if viable.
“The banning of domestic flights would not be feasible; it would have to be a part of a wider agenda.
“For journeys in the UK and to Brussels, I take the train, I have a low emissions car and I walk, or cycle, a lot.”