Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I am delighted to be a co-sponsor of this debate. We are a country with the most incredible landscape and seascape, rich in windy mountain ranges and spectacular coastlines, with the ability to generate green energy in a way that would benefit not only Welsh communities, but add significantly to the UK’s future energy needs.

There is of course the potential for green energy to provide a higher number of jobs in the future, highly skilled and better paid in developing and constructing the new technologies to deliver our energy needs. A new industrial revolution fit for the twenty-first century. The Welsh Government has talked of the potential growth in the green economy, and whilst I welcome economic development and renewal based on utilising the might of our environment, I know that energy developments need also to be focused on the benefits that such investments can bring to local communities.

There are of course the obvious local benefits to infrastructure, and the chances of employment in planning and engineering, but there are also many examples of energy projects that have worked to provide additional benefits to their local communities. Examples from some energy developments have included measures to combat fuel poverty, with funds being made available to support the retrofit of local homes to make them more energy efficient.

Some companies have invested in community funds, locally established and managed by local people, providing grants to organisations and projects, not just as a one-off but as a sustained community investment. In some cases, these local funds have used hundreds of thousands of pounds.

There are, however, challenges for the Government. Ministers need to understand the potential of their role as enablers. There needs to be a greater ambition in Government to work with industry to deliver new energy projects that will change the economic profile of Wales for the better, increase the supply and range of jobs, and maintain local benefits to the community.

To attract development in Wales, we need people with the vision and skill to articulate why energy developers should invest here. Why come here when they could invest elsewhere in the UK? What is it about Wales that makes development here an attractive proposition? If Government wants a green jobs revolution, then it needs to build a relationship with those in the sector—ambition on its own won’t make it happen. And it needs to be a relationship where developers understand the importance we place on community, utilising the benefits of investment and working together to build a greener Wales, not forgetting that, here in Wales, we are very near to nature, and we don’t want to spoil that by erecting 850 ft tall turbines, making our Wales ugly, as is planned for Y Bryn. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer.