Rape of the Fair Country. The next episode

We take a short interlude from the marathon that is an Independent Wales economy, just to take a quick look at the latest attempt to exploit Wales.

Renewable energy.

The latest, in a long line of industrial exploitation of Wales workers and resources.

Rape of the Fair Country, a 1959 tale by Alexander Cordell, describes the iron industry in the 19th century.

An industry that left a few, the iron works owners, very rich and the workers  poor. With no wealth gain to Wales.

It was for Wales only a  job creation scheme.

Then came the steel and coal era.

Wales was a leading world industrial powerhouse.

Steel and coal made a few, the coal and steel owners, very rich and after nationalisation, made huge profits for the UK government, but left Welsh workers poor.and no wealth gain to Wales

It was for Wales, only a job creation scheme

Next came the electronic industry, mainly in S. Wales, producing everything from  TV’s to washing machines With big names like Sony, Panasonic, employing thousands.

The sector made huge profits for the few, mainly foreign owners until there was more profit by locating elsewhere, leaving Welsh workers poor and no wealth gain to Wales. 

It was for Wales, only a  job creation scheme.

The motor industry next, not the finished product, parts, engines, clutches. Exhausts.

It made a lot of money for the owners outside Wales, but when they left for better profit opportunities, it left Welsh workers  poor and no wealth gained to Wales.

It was for Wales, only a job creation scheme.

The legacy from this immense wealth generated in Wales? Long term illness and fractured communities.

No great investment back into Welsh society.

No great investment to grow the Welsh economy.

No hospitals, schools, care homes and great seats of learning from this great wealth.. 

They all came from the contributions of the Welsh public and workers.

And so to the  latest smash and grab by the UK government, dressed up as a gift to Wales.

Clean renewable energy. Wales has the resources for more than enough for its own purposes. The UK, not enough.

Guess where this is going.

Wales has an abundance of renewable energy resources around its coastline.

This, stated by the new Labour government Welsh Secretary.

Also recognized by  the Engineer, a major UK engineering publication, when it describes Wales as ‘ having the greatest concentration of renewable energy resources than perhaps anywhere on the planet ‘.

These resources are now being eyed up by the new GB Energy initiative. 

The narrative from the UK government is that the extraction of that energy is of huge benefit to Wales and that only they, GB Energy, have the financial means to carry it out.

The Welsh Secretary talks of Port Talbot being transformed.

The Welsh government welcomes the robbery initiative, as it helps towards the zero carbon target.

The reality is quite different.

This is the way it works.

GB Energy has a budget of a little over £8 billion. As this is to cover all its energy initiatives, it has to watch its pennies in Wales.

Its aim, together with the Crown Estates, is to pave the way for private investors.

They will carry out such as seabed surveys and grid connections and would provide the data for private energy generating companies.

The illusion that it is for Wales benefit.

Public money, through GB Energy eases the path for the private sector.

The Crown Estates issues licences and gets the licence fees.

The private company generators, generate and sell the energy, They get the profits and spirit them away to foreign lands.

The tax revenues from the profits. That goes to the UK Treasury.

So what does Wales get?

As usual they get jobs.

The Welsh government doesn’t even get the carbon zero kudos. The energy now comes under GB Energy.

A problem with this job creation policy is that it is finite and uncertain.

The floating turbine field identified by the Crown Estate and now latched on to by UK energy is estimated as generating 4.5 GigaWatts of installed capacity.

Crown Estates identified this potential long before UK Energy was conceived, indeed before there was a Labour government in Westminster.

Crown Estates, have in fact commissioned Swansea University to carry out a seabed survey,

Then along comes the Westminster Labour government with its promises.

The area of Port Talbot will be transformed and there will be thousands of jobs. Well paid, skilled jobs.

Well maybe.

The majority of jobs are in the manufacture and installation of turbines.

As with every industry some jobs are skilled, some are not.

Some highly paid, some not so much.

It is, however, a contract

The bidders for this lucrative contract, must set out their plans for developing this phase.

Until then, jobs and opportunities are mere guesswork.

This bidding process is not going to be finalised until, at present estimates, late 2025 [ and a lot of change can take place before then ].

There is a specific number  of turbines to be manufactured and installed over a particular timescale, to fulfil that generating capacity.

 

And then?

And then the GB Energy caravan moves on.

Leaving another community struggling to come to terms with another industrial cycle ending, with the accompanying losses of jobs..

And the Welsh government, as usual, offering lots of sympathy, but not  much more.

That is, if the promised jobs materialised in the first place.

The new Welsh Secretary, the mouthpiece for the Westminster government, talks of Port Talbot being transformed and the Tata Steel workers being retrained for the new initiative.

She seems to ignore the realities.

The Wales record of mass retraining isn't great.

The skills required for the new industry are in most cases significantly different and retraining will not be the straightforward switchover of skills being presented.

Many of the former employees from Tata Steel, being touted as the new workforce, will no longer be available. Their redundancies are in the near future and they won't have the luxury of waiting for an unknown future job opportunity.  They will be seeking work elsewhere.

Also once the preferred developer has the contract, they will wish to move to generating energy without delay. They have shareholders to consider, bank loans to repay. Profits are the only way to satisfy those responsibilities.

They, therefore, will not be prepared to wait for some Wales training scheme, or for a manufacturing capacity that does not presently exist..

They will do what they always do, import skills and equipment and  Wales workers and manufacturers will take what's left.

The other problem with this job creation scheme, is that it is area specific, that is, it has very little economic or financial advantage to other parts of Wales. Unlike wealth creation initiatives, where the benefits can be shared.

And Port Talbot, don't get too excited. Switching one set of well paid, skilled workers for another, isn't  going to particularly improve the well being of the area.

It is also noticeable that those areas of Wales that were the site of these wealth creating industries, are today among the poorest areas of Wales.

As for supply chain benefits. Research by the Carbon Trust found that there are virtually no Welsh or Wales based enterprises involved  in maintenance, manufacturing or technology  presently in the renewable energy sector in Wales.

No surprise there..

So the moral of this latest episode.

A good dose of cynicism is advisable.

Keep in mind that they just want Wales' energy resources. All else is political PR fluff.. 

Nothing will change as long as the Welsh, people and government, continue to be on their knees giving thanks to the illusionary generosity from Westminster.

Beware of those bearing gifts. History has shown that Wales will usually end up paying a high price for them.

As the natives said to the missionaries. When you came, we had land and you had bibles. When you left, you had the land and we had the bibles. So it is [ metaphorically ] with Wales.

And to the Welsh government.

Even the Westminster governments representative in Wales, concedes the renewable energy wealth that exists ‘ in abundance ‘

Imagine if Wales was a sovereign state and all that wealth was ours. Now that would really see a transformation.