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Minister Howell's Outrage Misplaced

Friends of the Earth Cymru has criticised today's attack by Minister Kim Howells on his own Government's policy on windfarms (1). The Valley's MP has said that windfarms are 'madness' because they need back-up for when the wind is not blowing and that people should save energy instead. The environmental campaign group says that the Valley's MP should be outraged by his own Government's energy efficiency policy not their wind energy policy (2).

Neil Crumpton, campaigner at Friends of the Earth Cymru responded,

" All forms of electricity generation need back-up and very little extra will be required to cover windfarms generating up to 20% of UK electricity demand by 2020. And by 2020 there are likely to be new energy storage schemes and technologies which can enable more wind energy, particularly offshore, to be efficiently fed into the National Grid.

Kim Howells' colourful comments only highlight his sketchy understanding of the issues. If he is really concerned about energy efficiency he should be outraged by proposals for a huge and wasteful gas power station being proposed in Pembrokeshire. The gas plant would waste the energy equivalent of about one quarter of all the electricity consumed in Wales . And its his own Government's policies that are encouraging such waste."

Notes

1) Widely reported in media

2) Proposed 2GW Pembrokshire CCGT gas power station at Milford Haven (southside) would only be 60% efficient when CHP gas schemes are over 85% efficient. ALL the 'waste' heat from the proposed Pembrokeshire CCGT plant (around 600 MW) could be used re-gasifying extremely cold LNG (liquefied natural gas) imports arriving at the new terminals less than two miles away (on the northside). Welsh electricity consumption averages 2,225 MW per year.