Wales has a wealth of renewable and green energy potential, and it would be remiss of me not to start, given that Rhun ap Iorwerth has secured this debate, by mentioning the opportunities in Ynys Môn. He's mentioned solar, but the Wylfa Newydd nuclear energy site is a campaign I know his constituency colleague, the Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn, Virginia Crosbie, has championed powerfully. But I'd like to focus on a project off the coast of my own constituency of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire: the groundbreaking, multimillion pound Blue Gem Wind project, a joint venture between TotalEnergies, one of the world's largest energy companies, and Simply Blue Energy, a pioneering Celtic sea energy developer. The project will develop floating offshore wind, known as FLOW, in the waters of the Celtic sea.

FLOW is set to become a key technology in the fight against climate change, with over 80 per cent of the world's wind resource in waters deeper than 60m. Independent studies have suggested there could be as much as 50 GW of electricity capacity available in the Celtic sea waters off the UK and Irish coasts. This renewable energy resource could play a key role in the UK meeting the 2050 net-zero target required to mitigate climate change. Floating wind—FLOW—will provide new low-carbon supply chain opportunities, support coastal communities and create long-term benefits for the region. In my own constituency, it is estimated that Blue Gem's first 1 billion watts of floating wind energy could potentially deliver over 3,000 jobs and £682 million in supply chain opportunities, opening up a whole new world of offshore renewables with Pembrokeshire at its heart, unquestionably benefiting the community.

The first demonstration project in the Celtic sea, the 96 MW Erebus project, will become one of the largest floating offshore wind projects in the world when constructed in 2026. This will then be followed by Valorous, a 300 MW early commercial project, again, in the Celtic sea, which would see nearly 280,000 homes powered per year, while saving over 455,000 tonnes of carbon emissions per year. But what is truly incredible about the Blue Gem Wind project and the opportunities that present themselves in the Celtic sea is that not one area alone truly benefits, and neither can it deliver the project alone. It has to be spread across a number of areas and number of ports. This brings further spread of the community benefit of these new projects, as skilled jobs and economic benefits are not concentrated in a small area.

Communities in south-west Wales, the south-east of the Republic of Ireland and shipyards in Northern Ireland and Scotland can all benefit from this project. But these benefits aren't going to appear without active involvement from Government on all levels. Commercial projects such as these work at a speed not normally seen within governmental departments, and I know the Member from Blaenau Gwent raised the historical concerns around energy policy previously. Speed is of the essence when it comes to these projects, to ensure that they are not missed and the community benefit isn't missed either. We need to understand the constraints that these businesses and projects work under and do what we can to streamline the process. This isn't a call for bypassing key planning and regulatory constraints, but working in a speedy and constructive manner to help these projects get off the ground and deliver their environmental, economic and community benefits. In every corner of Wales, we have examples of projects striving to make a difference. They have the determination, they have the enterprise, we just need the confidence to unleash it. Diolch yn fawr.