Just days after renewable energy projects were under fire in Wales, Germany announces a plan to go nuclear free.
It has been widely reported that the protest taking place last Tuesday in front of the Senedd building in Cardiff Bay was the largest since the Assembly came into existence. The objection from the protestors was focused on electricity pylons, sub stations and wind turbines in the Mid Wales countryside. In particular they sought a change to the emphasis favouring wind power in TAN 8.
The politics of nuclear power has always been hot to handle and especially acute in Germany. Protests there following the Fukushima disaster have led to Angela Merkal’s centre-right Government announcing that the country will phase out all nuclear power generation by 2022. This will please the protestors but already concerns have been raised as to whether this will lead to a greater reliance on carbon emitting energy generation or over-reliance on imported power from neighbours, most notably the nuclear-friendly French. Should Germany seek to retain its current domestic energy production levels with new infrastructure, then that could see just the same clashes as the politicians of Wales experienced last week.
As much as the debate is focused on energy sources, subsidies or reliability often the protests come down to something far more simple – proximity. The people of Mid Wales see the wind farms as an industrialisation of their landscape: the argument appears not to be “no to wind turbines here” it is “no to major energy development here”. It is easy to understand the residents’ concerns, but at the same time we need to ask ourselves how are we going to keep feeding this energy hungry nation? Imports from abroad can be costly and often from dubious regimes. Generation in the UK is likely to be opposed by the people living near by.
The only way that politicians can hope to make the case for controversial energy projects is to bring people into the debate as to how we will power the country. Both wind turbines and nuclear power encourage some very emotive views. In Wales, those views have come to the fore in protest. In Germany, the decision made has pleased protestors, but may have just opened the door to a great deal more popular protest as alternative energy sources are explored.
