Westminster slammed for Welsh energy policies

Wales is being “stripped bare of its natural resources for the benefit of England’s power needs”, according to Plaid Cymru. The party’s Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd told the Plaid Cymru […]

Wales is being “stripped bare of its natural resources for the benefit of England’s power needs”, according to Plaid Cymru.

The party’s Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd told the Plaid Cymru spring conference that ownership of Wales’ maritime renewable power resources is essential to the nation’s economic future.

“The need to devolve power over our maritime energy resources cannot be over-stressed since the value of these resources is capable of transforming our economy,” he said.

“The UK government is fully aware of the value of these resources, which is why Wales does not receive the benefit from its energy resources.”

To stress his point, he singled out a particular case involving a wind farm being built by RWE npower: “Recently the UK government announced a huge new offshore wind farm which will be situated off the coast of north Wales called Gwynt y Môr. These new energy facilities are being built to feed England’s need for additional electricity, not our own. What is more, the wind farm is owned by three German companies, while the seabed is the property of the Crown Estate.

“When decisions on what is done with our coastline are being relocated to Germany and London, it is absolutely clear that action needs to be taken for us to regain control over our renewable energy sources.”

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