3. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for local and community energy generation projects around Wales? OAQ55191

I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. The Welsh Government has successfully supported local and community renewable energy projects since 2010, and continues to do so through the Welsh Government energy service. We have set challenging local ownership targets to ensure that we are retaining wealth and providing benefit to communities across Wales.

I thank the First Minister for his answer. I think that one of the things we don't want is our natural resources being turned into wealth in another place rather than Wales.

Energy transmission has changed from power station to end user, now with lots of local generation going to the grid. I remember the diagram that showed a power station in one place, lines going all the way, and ending up in factories and houses. That's not the case now because local generation can go into the grid. But there are two problems that exist. One is: what progress is being made on access to the grid? Because I understand that, in some areas, especially in mid Wales, there's great difficulty in getting access to the grid, and that some areas have got access to the grid because former power stations have closed, and therefore the grid has got greater capacity. And also, local storage and usage. People have heard me talk often about batteries, and the need to make huge developments in batteries. Because, rather than using the grid, if people could generate electricity locally and use it locally, then that would be of benefit to everybody.

I thank the Member for both of those important questions. Llywydd, I share something of the frustration that I hear from local generators, of the difficulty in getting National Grid connections. And I spoke about this with the incoming chief executive of Ofgem, in a conversation with him on Friday, and I look forward to him coming to Wales to continue that conversation. And Welsh Government officials are meeting with the National Grid and distribution network operators today. Because we need investment at the UK level, in innovation and cost reduction for storage, and for grid connection. And in some parts of Wales, our opportunities to take advantage of the many natural assets that Wales has for renewable energy generation—whether that's onshore wind or marine—both of those are being held back by the lack of investment in National Grid infrastructure here in Wales. So the Member makes a very important point about that, and about the need for National Grid to attend properly to the needs of Wales.

In relation to battery storage, and innovations of that kind, the Welsh Government wants to play our part in supporting industries that are developing new technologies in that field. My colleague, Ken Skates, has supported an important development in the Neath Port Talbot area that is all about battery storage and the technologies that will allow that sort of local storage on which the ambitions that we have for renewable energy generation here in Wales will depend.

I go back to the days when John Griffiths had this portfolio, and tried to raise this very point about connection to the grid, and the way it's holding back deployment of renewables here in Wales. And indeed, when it comes to battery deployment, there is a moratorium in south Wales until 2026, on any commercial deployment of batteries. So the point about Ofgem's role is well made by the First Minister. It is a fact that we do not have a board member from Wales on the Ofgem board, and, very often, when you interact with Ofgem, they refer to the Government as the Government at Westminster rather than the devolved Governments. Many of the energy responsibilities do reside here, especially planning permissions, et cetera. It is vital that the control period that Ofgem work to when they subsidise infrastructure development has a Welsh angle to it. Do you support Ofgem making a space for a Welsh board member to be appointed, so that Wales's voice can be heard when these decisions are being made?

I thank Andrew R.T. Davies for that. Of course we want to improve the answerability of Ofgem to Welsh interests, and the capacity of Ofgem itself to understand and to recognise particular Welsh circumstances. So shall I say that I was heartened by the fact that the incoming chief executive sought a phone call very early on in his tenure, to talk about what they intend to do to improve the service that they provide to Wales? I'm heartened by the fact that he has committed to an early visit to Wales so that he can meet a wider range of Welsh interests. And if a board member from Wales would assist in making sure that we have a better service from the system in the future then, of course, I'll be very happy to take that up with him.