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IT’S taken a war to persuade politicians that it’s perhaps time to take a more realistic look at energy production in the UK.
Westminster’s mad rush to ‘net-zero carbon’ appears increasingly misjudged in view of the effects of the conflict in Ukraine, with energy costs already rocketing at present and people’s fuel bills affected negatively.
With Boris Johnson now commissioning a new ‘energy paper’ to push for more energy self-sufficiency, it’s also a good time to remind everyone that Wales is already ahead of the curve in some respects.
And that we could achieve so much more as a nation with full energy independence.
‘Wales is already a net exporter of electricity and renewable energy as it is right now’ said Gwlad Leader, Gwyn Wigley Evans.
‘When we get the right to fully develop hydro, off-shore wind, and tidal power as well, we can be a prosperous nation at last.’
Mr. Evans said that Wales also had substantial gas reserves which could also be considered as part of Wales’s energy mix for the future.
But that it was very clear that highly-subsidised, and energy-ineffective onshore wind farms had to be scaled back.
He added that whatever u-turn Westminster decided to make on energy production, Wales was very well positioned to become an energy-rich nation in its own right.
‘The past injustices with energy production in Wales should also fuel our efforts in this direction’ he said.
‘And of course this injustice is still going on when you consider that Westminster have announced that it’s the Welsh Taxpayer – you and I – who will now have to pay to make coal tips safe here’.
‘So, essentially, the same people who stole the people’s donations towards Aberfan, are saying we have to pay again! ‘
The current energy crisis also makes the Welsh Government’s decision to set aside 60% of its capital budget towards green-related projects even more problematical.
It appears that looking virtuous on the UK stage and bowing to the vociferous environmental lobby is the main driving force for Welsh Labour at present.
With precious little attention given to more practical and pragmatic considerations such as encouraging mass house insulation, installing heat pumps etc. which could reduce people’s fuel bills in the short term.
It looks like a perfect storm is upon us with energy issues and other cost of living matters impinging on everyone right now.
There are even reports that petrol prices could hit £1.80 to £1.90 a litre here in Wales by the end of this week, which would be ruinous for drivers and for people in rural areas in particular.
And with gas and electricity prices soon to rise 60%, and cost of food and other items also going up, it’s going to be a tough year to say the least.
Perhaps it will concentrate people’s minds on the pressing need to become much more self-sufficient energy-wise, so as to be more resilient in the face of external problems.
And Wales has got an excellent case to make in that particular debate.
Something I wrote elsewhere on Jacothenorth’s site a few days ago –
P.R lobbyists working for all sorts of renewables vested interests are having a field day about invasion of Ukraine. Not focussing on the bad boy Putin and his atrocities committed in the name of crushing Fascism but instead getting all excited about the energy deficit arising from over dependence on Russian gas and how this represents an unrivalled opportunity to take a great leap towards “Zero something”.
Of course their solution is eminently predictable. Cover Wales with turbines, solar panels and fill the gaps with trees. Cracking rigour in that thinking. Renewables will end up being called “Unreliables” and we’ll all have to huddle together while we shiver and discuss our hunger pangs, as these thickos never thought about how we have to feed ourselves. That’s the zero we’ll end up with – zero life chances.
As this article states we are already rich in renewables although those assets are held in anything other than Welsh hands right now. The position gets worse when we consider that the Welsh Government in Cardiff regards placing all its “energy eggs” in the baskets belonging to a range of non Welsh corporates. These entities are most commonly set up with the express purpose of extracting as much government aid as possible to locate, manufacture, install and commission turbines and then adding insult to injury extracting a further bundle in the form of green subsidy funded by green levy which we the suckers pay.
I am open to a rational argument that we as a nation and indeed the whole world needs to transition to a much higher level of dependency on renewables. That should have been done on the basis of a thoroughly planned and carefully executed series of programmes, not the knee jerk random splashing of cash that we have witnessed over recent decades in the UK. Most likely the EU has also suffered from the same malaise. The end result,so far anyway, is that the older technologies have been binned before we have in place a robust cost effective alternative. Consumers certainly have not gained. Low income families were already in an energy crisis before this lot kicked off. The only winners are the opportunist corporates who have plundered the open range presented by politicians seeking to claim credit and prancing around waving their green credentials.