Sustainable Energy in
Cymru - Wales

Wales has a varied geography with strong contrasts. In the south, flat coastal plains gives way to valleys, then to ranges of hills and mountains in mid and north Wales.

Wales has three national parks: Snowdonia (home to Snowdon, the highest mountain in England and Wales at 1,085 m; Brecon Beacons; and Pembrokeshire Coast. Wales is home to five Areas of Outstanding National Beauty (AONB); Wye Valley; Isle of Anglesey Coast; Llyn Peninsula; Gower Peninsula; and Clwydian Hills. There are over 1300 kilometres of coastline ranging from long flat sandy beaches to towering cliffs. 80% of the land is dedicated to agriculture, ranging from crops to livestock.

Wales' industry has changed drastically over the last hundred years. At the turn of the 20th century, the emphasis was on coal and steel in the south and slate in the north. The transport of these items gave rise to a strong maritime industry too.

Coal exports, manufacturing and heavy industry have declined nowadays and have been replaced by new industries. Tourism and public services have taken over as the main employers within Wales.

The shape of manufacturing has also changed. The traditional heavy industries have given way to lighter manufacturing such as electronics, parts and technology.

Top five export industries: metals; energy; chemicals; engineering; automotive.

English is spoken throughout the country, but Welsh is also thriving, experiencing a resurgence with over half a million speaking fluent Welsh.

Cardiff, Wales’ capital is situated in the south of the country with a population of 321,000.

The National Assembly for Wales, which opened in 1999 is our political body made up of 60 elected Assembly Members (AMs) which makes decisions affecting Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government are responsible for policy and budget priorities and is scrutinised by the legislature, the National Assembly for Wales.

In Wales 40 members are elected to the UK Parliament where responsibility for some non devolved policy areas for Wales resides. On a European level, four members are elected to the European Parliament which produces legislation for member states of the European Union

The energy consumption data for Wales can be summarized as:-

• The use of coal is dominated by electricity production at Aberthaw Power Station and an unidentified user in the NE Wales (thought to be a mis-allocation from a coal-fired station just across the border in England).
• The “manufactured fuels” are largely coal based (ie coke and similar products) and the largest user by far is the steel works at Port Talbot.
• The consumption of oil in the industrial and commercial, and domestic sectors is decreasing slowly but the use for transport continues to grow.  There are no electrified rail lines in Wales so all trains still use diesel – this is also on a slight upward trajectory.
• The use of natural gas and electricity is reducing in all sectors which reflects the considerable efforts being exerted to improve energy efficiency.
• The energy derived from renewable and “energy from waste” increased by 67% between 2005 and 2007 – but from a very low base.  

Analysis of the electricity generation in Wales (as at March 2010) for units of 10 MW installed capacity shows that:-

• Wales produces considerably more electricity than it consumes
• There is 2080 MW of installed capacity of pumped storage and this represents the whole of the UK capacity
• The current generation capacity is dominated by coal and gas and is concentrated in the north and south of the country
• There is one nuclear power station in the far north of the country (on the island of Anglesey) but it is likely to be nearing the end of its generating life.  There is one other station that is being de-commissioned.
• New large scale generation capacity is under construction for more gas with the largest project being at Pembroke where it would use liquefied gas imported through the Milford Haven facility.
• A large electricity only facility is consented at Port Talbot that would burn imported biomass.
• There are a number of on and offshore wind-power installations and some hydro. 

Because the population and current generation capacity is concentrated in the north and south of the country there is a significant constraint in terms of grid infrastructure in the extensive but largely rural central region of Wales.  This is proving to be a barrier to wind-power development. 

In terms of local energy production, there is currently very limited district heating infrastructure in Wales.  Although this clearly leaves a great potential for expansion, that potential is going to be difficult to realise though a series of reasons:-

• There have been poor schemes in the past
• There is a significant lack of knowledge
• Retro-fitting heat mains is very expensive

The main opportunities for smaller scale renewable energy production in Wales are:-

1. Wind The larger wind schemes will be either off-shore or within the 7 “Strategic Search Areas” defined by the WAG under “Technical Advice Note 8 – Planning for Renewable Energy”.  Outside of the Strategic Search Areas there are opportunities for community schemes (up to 5MW) and schemes on urban and industrial sites.  Small turbines (6-20 kW) can be widely deployed across rural Wales.  The newly introduced feed-in tariffs have incentivized such developments.  Wales has one of the best wind regimes in Europe.  
2. Wave and tidal energy does have a potentially enormous role to play in terms of future energy generation in Wales but it will be deployment at a scale above 10 MW that will make an impact.
3. Ground and Air-source Heat Pumps  Whilst not a renewable energy technology, this lower carbon solution does have a part to play under the right circumstances.  The number of installations has increased quickly over recent years but some of them have been poorly designed and implemented.  The RHI announcement will have an impact on sales of this equipment too.
4. Solar Thermal This technology tool is awaiting an announcement on the RHI.  The market in Wales has been slowly developing over 20 years or more but the number of installations is still relatively low.  The RHI could change that.  Installations on new-build properties are increasing quite dramatically in some areas of Wales.
5. Woodfuel Heating  Wood, in the form of logs has been used as a heating fuel for as long as man has lived and stoves are by far the most prolific form of heating equipment in Wales.  Automated log, chip and pellet boilers are available (mostly imported from Austria) and are making some progress.  The announcement with the respect to the “Renewable Heat Incentive”(RHI) will be very significant to the market for these appliances.  The fuel supply chains and the quality of the available fuels is an issue throughout the UK.
6. Anaerobic Digestion (AD)  Until very recently there were no commercial AD plants in Wales but two have been commissioned in the last year and more are planned.  The WAG has chosen AD as its preferred method of treating organic wastes from the domestic waste stream and source-segregated food waste collections are commencing in most local authorities in Wales over the next year or so (where they haven’t already done so).  There is no real enthusiasm amongst policy-makers for the production of biogas from energy crops but the use of waste products, including manures and food-processing wastes is very much encouraged.
7. PV  Wales does not have the best solar resource in Europe but the stimulation of the PV market is still very worthwhile.  Feed-in tariffs have seen a very real increase installation of PVs in Wales with installers reporting a ten-fold increase in enquiries.
8. Woodfuel CHP  Although there is a lot of interest in woodfuel CHP, there are not yet any successful schemes and the technology is proving difficult.
9. Hydro  There are very few schemes available for larger schemes (above 100 kW) but these are often now under active investigation through a series of initiatives and the introduction of the feed-in tariffs.  Smaller schemes (down to 3 kW) have been developed over recent years and the potential for such schemes is significant, although their combined generation will still only be quite small.

The Policy Statement “A low Carbon Revolution” sets out the ambitions of the Welsh Assembly Governments vision for a low carbon economy in Wales. The Main Actions are:

1. Action on energy efficiency – a step-change in the energy efficiency performance or all housing stock in Wales. Planned activities include: a revised Home Energy Efficiency scheme which will focus on hard to heat homes and those most at risk from fuel poverty (tackling 3000 properties per annum), ARBED – an investment programme targeting the Regeneration areas in Wales (reaching over 10,000 homes), roll-out of smart meters to all properties in Wales and increasing building standards.
2. Action for a significant proportion of our renewable energy to be generated locally or domestically. Planned activities include: Ynni’r Fro a programme to fund and support community scale renewable energy generation projects, reviews of the barriers including planning, grid connection and providing support through the renewable heat incentive and feed-in-tariff.
3. Action to support large scale renewable energy production. Goals include:
   • Offshore wind – 15kWh/d/p capacity by 2015
   • Tidal Stream and Wave – 8kWh/d/p by 2025
   • Onshore wind – 4.5KWh/d/p installed capacity by 2015
   • Hydro & Geothermal – small scale schemes up to 1 kWh/d/p
   • Biomass and Waste – 6kWh/d/p by 2020
4. Actions to include: development work, providing support and multi-agency collaboration, provision of data, breaking down barriers, funding support.
5. Action to capture the benefits – to maximize the short and long-term benefits for Wales’ economy and society. Actions to include: learning programmes, capturing local jobs, developing local supply chains, improved infrastructure, linking investment to communities and tackling the roots of fuel poverty.

A Low Carbon Revolution – The Welsh Assembly Government Energy Policy Statement. March 2010.

Cardiff County Council and Mould Town Council have signed up to the Covenant of Mayors (COM) and are currently developing their SEAPs. Conwy and Powys County Councils are also in the process of signing up to COM and will in due course develop SEAPs.

Interaction with other initiatives at the Regional, National or European level:

Other related  initiatives:

come2Com - Partner - Severn Wye Energy Agency - seeks to promote and support the Covenant of Mayors Initiative in the UK.   The main aims of Come2CoM are the promotion and support of Covenant of Mayors Initiative by:

• Engaging new 'cities' of local authorities in the CoM initiativeHelping cities
• to prepare Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs)
• Creating links to other cities, in the UK and Europe, who are part of the CoM
• Signposting to tools and support available, for example through national networks and supporting structures including the Energy Saving Trust

ENESCOM – Partner - Powys County Council - aims to support at least 70 municipalities in joining the Covenant of Mayors – a commitment by signatory towns to go beyond the “Europe 20-20-20” objective (cutting CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020) by implementing specific Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) at the local level.

RENREN – Partner – Welsh Assembly Government - The project RENREN aims to identify policy choices that will improve regional frameworks for renewable energy expansion. The 14 partners from across Europe are collaborating to this end, since regions will play a big part in helping the EU and its member states achieve their 2020 renewable  energy targets and related greenhouse gas reduction targets.  The ambitious EU energy agenda is based on the three pillars of energy security, competitiveness and sustainability.