5. Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Community benefits of energy projects

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:04 pm on 13 October 2021.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 4:04, 13 October 2021

Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I think this has been a really valuable discussion, actually, and can I first of all thank the Minister for those words, when he said that he is coming close to establishing, hopefully, a body that will encourage and promote publicly owned energy in Wales? That sounds very much to me that Plaid Cymru's long-standing campaign to establish an ynni Cymru, an energy Wales body, has come to fruition and I'm delighted that it sounds as if Welsh Government is about to put something very, very similar to that in place. And I think that that's something very, very positive, because it's a means, I think, to have a real focus on the kind of energy developments that we want in Wales.

Thanks for the contributions. Yes, some interesting ideas, not just community benefits; Janet Finch-Saunders talking about even environmental benefits that we can gain from renewable energy projects, enhancing marine biodiversity, even. But we're talking today about the community benefits—I'm pleased that in Vikki Howells's constituency, she's happy that the benefits are coming—but you said yourself that they're voluntary, and that is the point here: we need mechanisms to ensure that they flow automatically from such projects, and whilst no, the motion doesn't mention community and co-operative energy, I'm sure you will have picked up on the fact that that is at the very heart of the kind of vision that I certainly have and I think most Members here have too.

Just a special mention to Alun Davies and his contribution: exactly the kind of vision that I have, and in saying that 'community' is a word that has largely been forgotten from energy policy and it needs to be reinstated there, that is exactly the point, I think, that I'm trying to make today. We can have all sorts of bold visions in terms of reaching our climate change goals, which absolutely we need to pursue with vigour, but we have to remember that many of the projects take place within, and affect directly, communities where people actually live, and it has to be a symbiosis.

So, the Minister said in opening his words that there is a lot of consensus here today, and I think that's very, very important. I didn't quite pick up on whether Government is going to be voting for the motion as it stands today; I do certainly hope that the Senedd today will back this motion. The Minister said that we have to bring communities with us. Local ownership absolutely has to be the aim, but as it stands, Welsh Government has enabled and empowered the large multinationals to pick on parts of Ynys Môn and other parts of Wales as areas where they think they have an automatic, almost, right to pursue their developments. That can't be the case, and I will gladly work with Government to be a bridge between my communities and Government in putting forward the case that somehow, those multinational companies have to go beyond the voluntary, have to go beyond the lowest possible threshold they think they can get away with when it comes to local benefits, and hopefully, we can work towards strong regulation at the very least, and I think legislation also to make sure that our communities don't become victims of renewable and other energy developments, but become real partners in them, too. Thank you.