“Whitewash”: British Hydropower Association responds to green tech report
Hydropower campaigners have launched a stinging attack on the Common’s Welsh Affairs Committee for failing to mention two highly important green technologies – hydropower and tidal range – in their latest report on renewable energy.
The cross-party committee of MPs took expert oral evidence for more than an hour from the British Hydropower Association during recent evidence sessions and received several written submissions from a variety of groups, including from the BHA.
Despite that, neither hydropower nor tidal range get any mention in the lengthy publication, issued on Thursday (July 29th).
Simon Hamlyn, chief executive of the British Hydropower Association, said: “It’s a parliamentary disgrace. This is an important report on green technology in Wales which has been whitewashed at the very time the world is focused on climate change and how to solve the climate emergency.
“It is a staggering omission that not once does the Welsh Affairs Committee report mention the word hydropower despite a lengthy written submission and oral evidence to MPs. Not once do they mention tidal range.”
There are around 300 hydropower stations in Wales and it’s a significant component of the Welsh energy mix, producing over 20 MW of electricity per year, excluding pumped storage hydro.
During oral evidence, members of the committee even agreed with the BHA that hydropower had been treated appallingly over recent, and avoidable, business rates increases for hydro in Wales.
While the Welsh Affairs committee omits hydropower and tidal range, a recent report by the Commons Environmental Audit Committee urged the UK Government to consider the benefits of tidal range in the UK’s energy mix.
The Welsh Government also supports tidal range as the technology moves back up the political and climate agenda. Launched in March this year, the Welsh Tidal Lagoon Challenge which is looking at the support which may be necessary from the Welsh Government, to a selected pathfinder project, has received “strong” responses to its market engagement exercise.
Henry Dixon, chair of the British Hydropower Association’s Tidal Range Alliance, said: “It’s extremely disappointing that the Welsh Affairs Committee has totally ignored a key renewable technology that could contribute so much to future generations.
“In our submission to the committee, we not only outlined how tidal range schemes could feed into Wales’ low carbon future but the wide ranging and essential benefits they would bring to coastal communities who are facing real challenges from rising sea levels.
“We are delighted that the Welsh Government has had the vision to launch its Tidal Lagoon Challenge and are bewildered that the Welsh Affairs Committee has chosen to ignore both tidal range and hydropower in its report.”
Mr Hamlyn concluded: “The committee have completely ignored the benefits of hydropower which were outlined to them in detail. I have yet to be given a clear reason why hydropower has been excluded. Whatever the reason, it is a total mystery, and it shows a callous disregard for two valuable technologies in the renewable sector in Wales.”