MPs welcome wave of regional cash
Cornwall’s five-strong team of Liberal Democrat MPs today (Thursday) welcomed a £21.6m funding package to build a wave farm off the coast of Cornwall, which will provide free energy to 7,500 homes.
The Regional Development Agency has now agreed to supply the final wave of cash necessary to fund the scheme. It will make Cornwall a world leader in wave energy technology.
Cornwall’s MPs are now urging Ministers to make sure that all other stakeholders, like local fishermen, are fully consulted about the precise siting of the hub and cable and to ensure that the scheme gets the necessary planning permission. The experimental project involves the generation of power from up to 40 floating wave energy devices located 10 miles off St Ives Bay, which would come ashore at Hayle (in the St Ives constituency) via a 15 mile cable to a new National Grid sub station.
Commenting, Andrew George, MP for the West Cornwall constituency of St Ives said:
“This is a complex and challenging project. It is very important that the millions of warm words uttered by politicians, of all hues, are matched by action. The opportunities of meeting our energy needs from renewables require commitment and public investment.
“We want Cornwall to become the ‘Green Peninsula’ within the UK. This project will be important in stimulating a new vision and new future for Cornwall as an environmental exemplar in the UK.”
North Cornwall’s MP, Dan Rogerson, added:
“We’re delighted that the RDA has seen the value of this scheme and provided funding. Now it’s up to Ministers to agree planning permission speedily.
“Renewable energy sources are crucial if Britain is to kick its addiction to fossil fuels. The government is using climate change as an excuse to promote wasteful and dangerous nuclear power but initiatives like this one show how we can keep the lights on without the nuclear option.”
