as spectre of Tryweryn new Welsh battleground

'Ring of steel' alert hovers over major

- RORY FRANCIS

In some circles, the spectre of the Tryweryn flooding has been raised as a parallel with the destruction of rural Wales to benefit others. Relatively few people in Wales will benefit, it's claimed.

Meeting decarbonisation deadlines, both in Wales and England, is driving an unseemly scramble to beef up the country’s electricity transmission infrastructure. While most people accept the need for post-oil energy certainty, it may have unintended consequences, leaving parts of Wales as a junkyard for abandoned pylons erected in haste and regretted for decades.

"North Wales will literally be surrounded by a ring of steel," said Anglesey-based Dr Jonathan Dean, director of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales (CPRW).

"We are littering our hills and moorlands with industrial wind farms, and stringing them all together using 55m-high steel lattice pylons. They are yesterday's technology to solve tomorrow’s problems.”

To understand what's going on, a broader picture is needed.

The UK is in the throes of a new jet-heeled industrial revolution, with governments racing to meet self-imposed deadlines for carbon-free electricity generation.

Wales aims to get there by 2035, Westminster wants the grid to be 95% carbon-free by 2030.

Wales, and in particular Scotland, have vast potential for wind power.

England does not, so will need to import it, primarily from Scotland. Already, five under-sea cables are being routed along England's east coast, with another running down the west coast to Wales via Deeside, Flintshire.

Two more are planned for north Wales, either connecting to Bodelwyddan or Pentir, near Bangor, Gwynedd. Or possibly one each. In future, more Scotland-Wales sub-cables might be needed.

South Wales has a solid electricity grid that can cope with the extra transmission.