6. 6. Statement: Energy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:46 pm on 26 September 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 5:46, 26 September 2017

I thank Mike Hedges for his questions. In relation to intermediate targets, no, I’ve set those targets. However, what I will do—when I brought forward the statement on energy last December, I committed to reporting annually. So, this December, I will be bringing forward an update on the policy statement from last year. I think, as part of that policy statement, we could then give the latest data. Because as I say, the data that I was looking at for renewable energy, for instance, was 2015. So, hopefully, by December, we’ll have more updated data. So, we could build that into the annual reports.

Storage is a big issue, and certainly in discussions that I’ve had with individuals, with RenewableUK et cetera, they all point to storage being something that we need to get our heads around much quicker than perhaps we are doing. So, again, those policies are being looked at and, clearly, discussions will need to go on about storage as we increase our renewable energy—both what we’re producing and usage.

You’re right about the Hendry review, it certainly was a very unequivocal report, and maybe the UK Government shouldn’t have asked the question if they don’t like the answer. I don’t think I can put any more pressure than I am doing on them. As I say, the last letter I wrote was a month ago—and I’m still awaiting a response from Richard Harrington—asking him to set out a timescale. Before the election, it was Jesse Norman and Greg Clark that I was writing to. Every response I’ve had, I’m afraid, has been light on detail. But I do want to assure Members that we are putting as much pressure as we can on the UK Government to bring forward a response as soon as possible.