Well done, Ann Davies MP, the newly elected Plaid Cymru member for the new Caerfyddin constituency, who spelt out that the turbines proposed for the Radnor Forest wind farm should use underground cables and not pylons. Ann also made clear that if that involves additional costs, these should be borne by the profits of the investors rather than the local landowners and consumers.
Only a few days previously, Adam Price had moved an amendment to the present guidance in the Senedd that would have required ALL future cabling to be underground rather than on pylons.
Meanwhile, some attention has started to focus on a Carmarthenshire company (ATP). Who have configured the use of “spider ploughs” to lay cables underground far more efficiently than had previously been the case. It may even be the case that this methodology is CHEAPER than pylons.
It would be even further good news if the relevant local authorities and the Welsh Government supported this approach.
But all this points towards a far wider question that could provide the opportunity to fundamentally change the Welsh economy and be a huge contribution to achieving “Net Zero”.
The truth is that the National Grid is hopelessly configured. It is orientated on distribution from the old fossil fuel generators and is a massive impediment to a range of renewable opportunities.
Whether it is capacity for charging electric vehicles or solar farms, we find far too often that there is a problem.
This requires a “national” solution with a new, entirely underground grid designed to be the main artery for future, urgent, major generation projects.
It needs to be done by the Welsh government (maybe with some private sector minority partners), and it should always be a public sector entity. Firms like ATP could play a major role in working with the public sector to create an organisation that would create this new underground grid.
And there really should be some way of creating an entity that pension funds could support.
One of the major advantages of this approach would be that the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon could deliver its maximum benefits, rather than the weird and wasteful private sector proposals that have been the only thing on offer for some years now.
A few years ago, the UK Communities Division of Siemens made a suggestion to Swansea Council. This proposed a vehicle that would be 49% owned by themselves and 51% owned by some combination of the Welsh Government and some local authorities. The Lagoon could provide the power for about 40% of a west Wales grid stretching from Bridgend up to mid Wales and across to the coast. The other 60% could easily be generated by wind, solar, hydro, and wave. i.e., a 100% renewable solution.
Siemens would provide up to 1.5 billion euros as a soft loan to deliver the project.
They were also reasonably confident that they could get what was then DECC to agree that this could be a trial area for separation from the National Grid.
For now, I am reluctant to describe how that offer was ignored. I doubt if Siemens would want to waste any more time in Swansea, but the basic idea is more relevant than ever.
