Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 2:17 pm on 14 October 2020.
Yes, absolutely, I'll give that commitment and, certainly, as part of the offshore wind sector deal, we're working with industry and partners to capture the economic benefits from investments in new projects. The Member might be aware that Welsh Government is a member of the offshore energy alliance, which is a north Wales-north-west England group of industry players and stakeholders. That was set up to look at regional benefits. We've also been working with the Crown Estate, who have identified north Wales's waters as one of four priority locations in relation to this. I attended a marine renewable energy conference in Dublin last year, where I spoke with several floating wind developers who are very interested, obviously, in the area off Anglesey, which, as you say, has been identified as a possible location for floating offshore wind demonstration projects of less than 100 MW under the current Crown Estate guidelines. So, absolutely, encouraging developers and organisations to provide an expression of interest to the latest Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy call, following the Prime Minister's announcement of a £160 million upgrade to ports and factories to support the offshore wind industry.