1. Will the Minister make a statement on the role of community energy projects as part of the Welsh Government’s climate change strategy? OAQ(5)0014(ERA)[W]

Diolch. Climate change is perhaps the biggest threat to our future generations, and the Welsh Government is committed to reducing net Welsh emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050. Local energy projects, and reducing distances between generation and consumption more generally, will have a critical part to play in achieving this.

During the last Assembly term, my predecessor, Alun Ffred Jones, worked tirelessly in order to secure the success of two community hydro schemes as they started the process of providing an opportunity for the public to buy shares in these projects. I’m pleased to be able to say that these projects have been exceptionally successful, attracting a number of people in those communities to purchase shares in those projects, and Ynni Ogwen and YnNi Padarn Peris are now proceeding well. Ynni Anafon in Abergwyngregyn is also a community hydro scheme that has been exceptionally successful. But, with the Ynni Ogwen project particualrly, it did take two years for this scheme to gain its water abstraction licence from Natural Resources Wales, which goes way beyond the four months in their statutory guidelines to process such applications.

In an evidence session to the Environment and Sustainability Committee in November of last year, it was stated that it was a problem of staff and resources in Natural Resources Wales that accounted for this problem. Has the Minister carried out any assessment of the resources needed by NRW in order to achieve its functions in full? If so, are you content that they have the necessary resources to achieve that, and, if not, will you commit to carrying out such an assessment and report back to the Assembly?

Thank you. I was very pleased that we are supporting Ynni Ogwen in Bethesda. It was the first pilot of its kind in the UK, so I think there’s probably a lot we can learn from it, with it obviously being the first, and I know that they are trialling a model of encouraging local use of energy from distributed generation. You’ll appreciate I’m very new in the portfolio. I’ve met with Natural Resources Wales. Clearly, they receive significant funding from us and it’s up to them to sort out and ensure that they’ve got the staff to cover all parts of the project that they need. But it’s something that I’ll certainly discuss with them at my next meeting, which I think is next week, actually. But I do think, with it being a pilot, there is a lot we can learn from Ynni Ogwen in Bethesda.

Cabinet Secretary, the climate strategy also sets targets for improving energy efficiency within our homes. Part of the approach to achieving this includes external cladding of some of those buildings being widely used, but also on pre-1919 stock, which are mainly solid block or solid wall buildings. The external cladding, whilst providing energy efficiency for those properties, may also actually limit the breathing of those properties, which causes difficulties. Will you commission research on the impact of the external cladding on those types of buildings, so that we can ensure that it doesn’t give us long-term problems, but actually does give us long-term benefits?

I think it’s very important that we know if it’s going to give us difficulties or benefits, so, if that research hasn’t been done previously, I’ll certainly look to having that carried out.

Minister, I’ve asked you previously about the community benefits of renewable energy schemes. I’ll ask you again because it is a very important issue for my constituents. When a solar farm was being planned at Llanvapley between Monmouth and Abergavenny in my area, it was opposed by local people. After it was passed, they subsequently found that they’d lost the opportunity to lobby for the community benefits that are normally associated with such schemes, and the company involved has been largely non-responsive to their inquiries. I appreciate there is a non-devolved aspect to this, but can you tell me in what ways the Welsh Government is looking to strengthen these procedures and guidelines so that companies can’t avoid providing valuable community benefits when schemes are built in communities?

Yes, I think it’s really important, if we are going to ensure that we have these community projects, that people understand the benefits of them—that it’s very real to them, and that they are able to take part in it. So, I’ll certainly look into it. I think I’ve already started to look into it. When you first raised it with me, I asked officials. As you say, there is a reserved part to this, but, again, I’ll be very happy to make representations to the relevant Minister in the UK Government.