3. What recent discussions has the Minister had in terms of the possible environmental benefits of developing a Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon? OAQ53658

Diolch. As the Minister responsible for marine licensing, I am unable to comment on specific projects, as this may prejudice my role. The Welsh national marine plan will set out policy for the sustainable development of our seas, and it has been informed by a sustainability assessment.

Minister, following the disappointing announcement by the UK Government last year not to invest in the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, the firm behind the development have been working to look at different delivery models, as well as making changes to the proposal itself. Adding floating solar panels to the lagoon, for example, is estimated to increase the scheme's energy output from 572 GWh to around 770 GWh. Now, whilst the Welsh Government has previously been publicly supportive and was prepared to invest in the scheme, it has not made any comment recently. Will you outline to the Chamber what action you have been taking over recent months to ensure that this groundbreaking project can be delivered and that the benefits, both environmental and economic, can be delivered locally?

Thank you. You will be aware that the marine energy summit was held last January—I think in Swansea—and the First Minister, in opening that summit, highlighted the Government's support for the development of a sustainable marine energy sector here in Wales, and, certainly, there are emerging technologies that we need to look at. I know that following the summit the First Minister has written twice to the UK Government, to Greg Clark, highlighting the importance of the marine energy sector to the UK, and particularly to Wales, asking the UK to provide a very clear path to market for marine energy. I think the lack of a strategy in relation to tidal lagoons and tidal energy in the UK Government is clearly an obstacle. There will be a report for the Welsh Government coming from the summit, I think by the end of April, and certainly we'll be making that available to the public, and I think it's really important that we do look at these emerging technologies, particularly around marine energy in Wales. We're very supportive of the economic benefits of tidal lagoons, as you said, and the opportunities to grow a vibrant marine industry, and that's why I was very keen to have a national marine plan.

Well, I think we'd all be keen to hear any developments on the front of the Swansea bay tidal lagoon—genuinely interested to hear what Dai Lloyd had to say there. But one of the circles that remains difficult to square, of course, is the cost of the energy that's produced by the lagoon— potential lagoon—which is a material consideration at a time when Tata Steel, for example, is competing in a global environment, where the cost of energy in France and Germany, for example, is a fraction of that that they are having to spend here. Tata is looking to reduce its energy costs, as well as its environmental impact, by increasing the capacity of its own power generation, and cheaper energy for them, of course, means more money available to tackle the pollution they produce from a different angle. Would you be happy to press the point in Cabinet that there are environmental as well as economic reasons for seeing Tata's ambitions for their power plant realised? Thank you.

Yes. I don't think I need to press the point. I think, certainly, colleagues are aware of that, and myself and Ken Skates are, I think, going to do a joint visit to Tata around this very issue within the next couple of months.

I concur with everything Suzy Davies just said. But the question I want to ask is: we all appreciate that the tidal lagoon actually is a beneficial project and the issues it will bring and the benefits it will bring is something we all want to see. But as well as environmental benefits there are environmental challenges and one of them is obviously the impact upon fish. Now, I know that the fishing bodies in my area and the tidal lagoon themselves had two different fishing models that were quite different and quite a distance apart. What progress has been made by Natural Resources Wales on looking at those fishing models? Because, if it comes back to the fore, we don't want it held up as a consequence of this not having been addressed at this point in time.

No. Obviously, that work was ongoing when the Swansea bay tidal lagoon was being considered as a scheme by the UK Government. I'm not aware of what work is currently ongoing, but you're quite right: if another project came forward, we would need to know which model was providing the correct information. So, I would be happy to write to the Member to update him.FootnoteLink

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