UNDERWATER turbines could create a £1bn renewable-energy industry if the States find the political vision, according to the head of the Jersey Electricity Company.

In a speech to the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Mike Liston said that money was available to invest in turbines off Alderney, and that the JEC was already talking to the island agency set up to develop a tidal power system.

All that was missing, he said, was political vision and will – and the retiring head of Jersey’s electricity utility took a sideswipe at the States for their obsession with infighting and debating detail, not strategy.

‘It’s going to take strategic thinking and behaviour from a Jersey government which is obsessed with trivia and micro-management and which can spent hours debating the cost of painting the railings along Victoria Avenue,’ said Mr Liston.

‘It’s going to take joined-up policies from a government paralysed by structural fragmentation, personal vendettas and individual agendas.

‘Above all, it’s going to require substance, not spin, in its commitment to sustainability – and in an election year, that’s an even taller order than ever.’

In front of the audience of 150 Chamber of Commerce members at the Pomme d’Or Hotel, Mr Liston urged the States to back the Energy Policy when it comes to the House for debate.

He said that underwater turbines sitting off the seabed near Alderney – an area with one of the most abundant streams of tidal energy in the world – could reshape not just Jersey’s energy supply, but also its international image.

‘We have a substantial renewable-energy resource around our shores in the form of wind and tidal streams which have the potential to supply many times our own energy needs,’ said Mr Liston.

‘Jersey is well positioned to capitalise with pride and dignity on the global effort to combat climate change and at the same time improve the security of its energy supplies and enhance its international reputation and brand, more than a banana ever could – especially now that we have such a tendency to slip on the skin.’

Mr Liston said that the Island had a good record on energy – because it imported nuclear power from France – and that developing renewable energy could add a new element to Jersey’s finance industry.

He said: ‘Despite a 25% increase in energy consumption in the past 15 years, Jersey’s CO2 emissions have fallen by 36% – more than any of the developed Nations committed to CO2 reductions under the Kyoto climate change conventions.

‘This is entirely due to the removal of carbon from the electricity we use.

‘The European Commission’s decision a few years ago to introduce carbon emissions caps and allow emissions trading means that carbon is set to become the world’s biggest commodity market and maybe its biggest market overall.

‘London was identified just last week as the world’s leading market for trading not just in carbon allowances, but in funds investing in the environmental projects that generate them. On London’s doorstep, Jersey could earn a role in this new business, as it did with financial services decades ago.’