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UK Energy Infrastructure (Wales)

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairpersonship, Mr Bayley, as I know that you are a green Chair in a green chair. In this debate, I will talk about Wales’s contribution to UK energy, and the development thereof.

Wales currently produces about 22,000 GWh of energy a year and consumes about 18,000 GW. We export approximately 4,000 GWh to England, but that figure is due to grow because of the abundant opportunities provided by the sea and the wind, and by solar energy. Essentially, I want to discuss the need to have the right balance between green energy and green tourism, with future tourism and economic opportunities paying due respect to our seascape and landscape.

The global population is growing, from something like 6 billion to 9 billion, and we are therefore not in control of the environment beyond our immediate physical surroundings. The size of the middle class in China, for instance, has grown from 2% to 20% of the population in the past 10 years, and more people from developing nations are travelling. Opportunities for green tourism in places such as Wales, which has a relatively sparse population, are therefore enormous and need to be borne in mind, as do opportunities in the creative industries. “Da Vinci’s Demons” is filmed at the old Fabian way site in my area. Our landscapes lend themselves to extraordinary Hollywood-type productions. We need a balance.

There are opportunities for nuclear development in Anglesey to produce another 34 GWh, which would be an increase of 150% in Wales’s total energy production and should justify further investment in Wales. We do not get our fair share of investment: some 80% of current infrastructure investment plans and 90% of transport plans are for London and the south-east. I know that hon. Members are interested in freight, for instance, and there is a case for investment in that.