Coal and Wind

We debated Energy in the Assembly this week, which gave me the opportunity to address some issues of local concern, including windfarms, fuel poverty and also clean coal technology:

Leighton Andrews: I would like to pick up a few of the issues that are covered in the energy review. If we were discussing simply renewables, we would have a cloyingly sickly outbreak of consensus in the Chamber, which might do much for our blood pressure but little for the issues that we face. There are certain issues that are well beyond the power of the Assembly to influence—the global price of oil is one. However, there are many issues to which we can make a direct contribution, and to which what we decide here can make a difference.

The first issue that I would like to pick up on is that of clean-coal technology. It is some time since the last pit closed in the Rhondda, but some of my constituents still work in the coal-mining industry at Tower Colliery. I suggest to the Minister that perhaps clean-coal technology needs a higher profile than it has been given in the document so far. It has been an ambition of Tower Colliery to expand its production and to see an expansion in the use of new coal technologies, and I commend the work that has been done there. I also note that the Wales TUC has made this an issue in the briefing that it has supplied for this debate.

The industry has made a number of representations to us, both in advance of the discussion that we had in the Economic Development and Transport Committee and before today’s debate, and there is clearly concern about security of supply at the present time. I would be interested to hear what the Minister has to say about that. There is also concern in industry about the issue of the cost of energy, and that we should identify a proper fuel supply mix for Wales. Those are all relevant points.

I am not an advocate or fan of nuclear energy, like many who spoke earlier. However, there are two questions that we need to face up to in relation to nuclear energy at the very least. The first of those is the replacement of the proportion of Wales’s energy that is currently supplied by nuclear facilities. That probably needs more scrutiny than has been given so far in the document. The second issue is raised by, among others, the Wales TUC, which is the need to retain skills in relation to nuclear energy, if only for the purposes of decommissioning plants. This is a relevant issue for the Wales TUC to bring to our attention, though I note that the Wales TUC document goes rather further than that of the Confederation of British Industry by saying that nuclear generation should not be discounted or ignored. Clearly, the Wales TUC is engaged in the debate at any rate.

The industry has made a number of representations to us, both in advance of the discussion that we had in the Economic Development and Transport Committee and before today’s debate, and there is clearly concern about security of supply at the present time. I would be interested to hear what the Minister has to say about that. There is also concern in industry about the issue of the cost of energy, and that we should identify a proper fuel supply mix for Wales. Those are all relevant points.

I am not an advocate or fan of nuclear energy, like many who spoke earlier. However, there are two questions that we need to face up to in relation to nuclear energy at the very least. The first of those is the replacement of the proportion of Wales’s energy that is currently supplied by nuclear facilities. That probably needs more scrutiny than has been given so far in the document. The second issue is raised by, among others, the Wales TUC, which is the need to retain skills in relation to nuclear energy, if only for the purposes of decommissioning plants. This is a relevant issue for the Wales TUC to bring to our attention, though I note that the Wales TUC document goes rather further than that of the Confederation of British Industry by saying that nuclear generation should not be discounted or ignored. Clearly, the Wales TUC is engaged in the debate at any rate.

I also wanted to say a couple of sentences about wind. I have not been exactly the most faithful advocate of technical advice note 8 when it has been discussed here before, and I have a major problem with an approach to the planning of wind which suggests that a high proportion of windfarms should be settled in the Valleys. I have never understood the argument that areas of outstanding natural beauty should be excluded from having wind plants. It seems that therein lies an assumption that the only areas of beauty are those in places that are designated as such. There is a whole series of planning issues that are of great concern to many of my constituents. For the record, I also want to say that a number of my constituents have great concerns about any Objective 1 money being used to subsidise windfarm development either in my constituency or elsewhere. We need to do more to get the balance right between offshore and onshore, and between wind and other renewable sources.

Finally, in relation to fuel poverty, the home energy efficiency scheme has been excellent. It has been taken up by many elderly people in my constituency and in many others. I know that Neighbourhood Energy Action in Wales is also developing plans for a fuel-poverty initiative, which I hope will be looked on kindly within the context of the Heads of the Valleys scheme. Some exciting and interesting issues are coming forward in that regard.

This is the start of the debate. I am glad that the Minister has had a consultation, but I think that there are many issues that have to be addressed.