2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the potential development of a Swansea Bay tidal lagoon? OAQ54416

We continue to work with a range of partners to find investment projects to ensure the marine energy industry in Wales, including Swansea bay, has a strong and positive future. We are considering the report of the Swansea bay city region taskforce into potential models to deliver a lagoon in Wales.

Trefnydd, thank you for that. As you said, the Swansea bay city region taskforce report suggested some head-turning ideas indeed, including a floating community of up to 10,000 homes and shops in Swansea bay. Also proposed is a floating solar farm and an underwater data centre for technology companies to keep servers cool, in Swansea bay. It's also reported that the cost of the scheme has reduced by 30 per cent, from the original £1.3 billion. Now, as you alluded to, this report was submitted to the Welsh Government in May of this year, and, earlier this month, the leader of Swansea Council, Councillor Rob Stewart, stated that the Welsh Government had, during discussions, 'responded positively to the report'. Well, in the absence of anything coming our way, could you now inform Assembly Members of the view of Welsh Government on the report, and when you expect to make a formal decision, particularly in terms of any Welsh Government investment on this matter?

I thank Dai Lloyd for raising this issue. Of course, the taskforce to which he refers is being led by Swansea city council, on behalf of the Swansea bay city region. And the membership is drawn from a wide range of statutory and regulatory bodies, which will be required, in order to take forward any potential projects, should a suitable financial model come forward. Welsh Government has provided funding for that taskforce already to undertake a number of packages of work, procured from independent experts, which is looking very much at the financial modelling, the business case and the infrastructure delivery issues. And that work is intended, really, to develop a financial model that could include a mixture of revenue and capital streams, wider regeneration—and you've given some examples of that—and energy-related innovation proposals, and some other aspects as well. So, it's potentially a very exciting scheme. Welsh Government's very interested in it. You'll recall that, under the previous scheme, Welsh Government had agreed that there would be up to £200 million of financial transactions capital available to support that, and I can confirm that that funding would still be available should a viable and value-for-money model come forward.

I'm very pleased to hear those last comments there, Trefnydd. That was part of the question I was going to ask you, but you'll be glad to know it wasn't the entire question. I think the important point to make here is that this no-brainer of an idea still remains an amazing idea for the region, for Wales as a whole and, indeed, for the UK supply chain. The Welsh Conservative group here is certainly making its views known to the new UK Government, and I hope that your Government is as well. As part of that, I wonder if you could give me an indication of the scrutiny that Welsh Government has done on Natural Resources Wales's handling of the marine licence application for the original project, because the last thing we want, with any new ideas, is delays of that nature occurring again?

Thank you. I'm really pleased to hear that the Welsh Conservatives will be putting the pressure that they can on the UK Government in terms of supporting a Swansea bay tidal lagoon. And, of course, the UK Labour Party has said that it would be something that it would be keen to look to bring forward should it be in the position of forming a Government. But it is important that all of those issues relating to the marine licence are fully looked at. I know that the Minister with responsibility for environment and rural affairs is very much sighted on those, and we would be considering that alongside any other potential blockages that we would have to overcome as the project, hopefully, moves forward.

Trefnydd, whilst the initial plans were not favourable, the potential for tidal lagoons to address the climate emergency and our impending energy crisis cannot be overstated. Trefnydd, an ideal way of trialling the technology would be through a smaller-scale project in conjunction with a heavy energy user. Would the Welsh Government consider a joint venture with Port Talbot steelworks in order to showcase the potential of tidal lagoons to decarbonise our energy supply?

Well, Welsh Government is extremely excited about, and ambitious about, the potential of marine energy in the round. And I know that the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs spoke at the ocean energy conference just yesterday in Dublin. And she was talking about the more than £71 million of European funding that has been agreed and which will deliver over £117 million of investment in Wales, and some of that will be in the region that you represent. There's a business in Swansea, which is a wave energy developer—Marine Power Systems—and they've successfully concluded their year-long sea trials, testing this over the summer. Their WaveSub quarter scale prototype has achieved its crucial milestones, and they've been awarded €13 million of that funding to design and manufacture a larger scale device. So, there's a huge amount of work and effort going on in the area of marine energy in the round.  

I'm just going to add to the unanimity across political parties on this. Tidal lagoons will develop across the world—that's inevitable. Reliable and consistent electricity is something we need to be developing. Following the latest Hinkley Point predicted increase in building costs, going alongside its capped storage costs, and almost certainly—though we haven't had it yet, it'll have it underwritten—its demolition costs, the cost of tidal lagoon is now substantially less than that of Hinkley Point. Will the Minister get the Government to make the point to the Westminster Government that if Hinkley Point is able to go ahead, then we can see no reason why the Swansea tidal lagoon can't?  

Absolutely, and there are so many reasons for Swansea tidal lagoon to go ahead, not least because of the important role that it could play in terms of addressing skill levels in the region and providing opportunities for excellent jobs, and putting Wales at the forefront of a new global technology. Because, as Mike Hedges says, tidal lagoon energy is going to happen in the world, and wouldn't it be fantastic if Wales was on the front line of that?