What are the alternatives to unacceptable industrialisation of rural Wales caused by the construction of new pylon lines and the large energy parks they connect?
There are a number of aspects to this difficult questions. There are many opinions on the subject, often differing widely. One thing is agreed by most, our worldwide use of energy is not sustainable and almost all scientists now agree that this is damaging the planet and causing rapid climate change. We can now clearly see the effects of climate change and urgent action is needed. The loudest response is the call to replace fossil fuel combustion energy with clean power in the form of electricity from renewable sources.
It is important to start with some perspective on the problem. Atmospheric pollution that leads to global climate change, that is "greenhouse gases" is generally referred to in terms of "carbon emissions", even though carbon dioxide is not by any means the only component. It is generally accepted that the UK accounts for less than 1% of the world's carbon emissions. Statistics from different sources vary, but the respected EDGAR database for year 2022 puts the UK at 0.793% and the DEFRA figures breaking down each UK region gives Wales at just 7.53% of UK carbon emissions. Applying those together results in a figure for Wales of 0.06% of world's emissions. In other words - negligible!
So if Wales stopped producing any greenhouse gases today, it would make no difference to the global situation. Wales already generates much more electricity than it uses. This raises the question, is it worth destroying our countryside and despoiling the landscape for no good reason? It might in fact be a more effective contribution if Wales sent emissaries to other larger countries to advise and persuade them to reduce emissions there.
So one valid alternative is - do nothing, but tell others to clean their house! But then again, it is also reasonable to expect everyone to take responsibility, regardless of where they live.
Accepting that every person on the planet should do their part in reducing damaging emissions, gives an obvious alternative. We must all use less energy, much less, regardless of how that energy is produced. The need to develop such huge areas for electricity generation would then be much reduced.
Some authorities argue that this actually is the only certain long term solution to global climate change and other pollution consequences. Renewable energy sources may well be preferable to fossil fuels, but their current implementation is far from perfect. Advances in technology may or may not improve things, but there is no guarantee.
However, using less energy involves a lot more than just switching off a light, there are many aspects:
The broader environmental issues and consumption of energy must also be considered due to direct or indirect impact on electricity use as well as climate change. This raises large and complex topics, many of which are hotly debated, but here are just a few points:
Wales already has operational offshore wind turbines and more are on their way. There are other large offshore wind farms around the UK.
Locating power generation in the seas around Wales could easily provide more electricity than onshore wind farms. This could potentially altogether remove the need for large energy parks in hills of rural Wales and their associated long pylon lines.
Offshore wind has its own challenges. Excellence in engineering and planning is required, plus the marine environment must always be treated with the utmost respect. But overall it offers preferable alternative to destroying valuable countryside. Using under-sea cables, transmission lines could be routed to the most suitable coastal substation connections.
The energy companies are concentrating on wind and solar power, always using well understood technology because that is the safest investment. However, there is a much wider range of renewable possibilities and a lot of development work going toward new solutions. Possibly the most significant are the possibilities for capturing wave and tidal energy.
Unlike wind and solar, the movement of water in the oceans is constant and predictable. Much technical development has already been done but more is needed. The water around Wales offer some of the most suitable conditions found anywhere. A fully operational floating tidal stream turbine is already generating predicable electricity off the Orkney coast.
A more comprehensive article about renewable options can found here on the No Pylons Wales website.
The long transmission routes using pylons are required because of the very large wind farms planned for sparsely populated upland areas of Wales. But if electricity was generated nearby to where it is being used, they would not be needed.
At an individual level, there has already been a strong uptake of rooftop solar PV panels, giving useful electricity supplement without using any extra land space. There are also a number of community based schemes.
Local power production has many attractive advantages. Above all it puts greater control into the hands of residents. The chosen methods of generation are more likely to be suitable for local conditions and of course it removes dependency on distant sources.
Perhaps the most obvious way to quickly increase localised electricity generation is by deploying more solar panels. There is an enormous amount of rooftop space that could be used on commercial and agricultural buildings. There are also good opportunities for local wind power and even small-scale hydro-electric in suitable locations.
Where new electricity transmission lines are unavoidable, for whatever reason, then there is an obvious alternative to the overhead cables carried on pylons, that is, run the cables underground. This is routinely done for the lower power distribution network, especially in built-up areas. The main obstacle for long distance lines is usual the greater cost.
The traditional method of laying underground cables is by open trenching. Although the end result is good, with little or no impact on the landscape, the installation process is disruptive, time consuming and very expensive. However, there is more modern method that can be used in most situations. Using large specialist machines the cables, or conduits for cables, are ploughed into the ground so that no trench is needed. This is less disruptive, fast and causes much less environmental damage during the process.
There is debate about the costs of underground cabling, but it would appear the cable-ploughing method is cheaper than open trenching and in the long term may compete with overhead lines. Regardless, it would be worth it to preserve our valuable landscape.
Where there are difficult obstacles, such as major roads or river crossings, a technique called horizontal directional drilling (HDD) can be used in partnership with trenching or cable-ploughing.
Carmarthenshire has a specialist company who are experts in cable-ploughing and have world class equipment, see their website for further information.