Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:16 pm on 13 October 2021.
Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I move this amendment in the name of Darren Millar, and I'm very grateful once again to Plaid Cymru for this important debate. Now, with COP15 under way, it is very appropriate that we ensure that our Welsh Government is doing its utmost to tackle the climate and, indeed, our nature crises. Across the Siambr, there is agreement on the need to achieve net zero by 2050 and to protect at least 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030. But where we differ is on how we go achieving those aims.
Plaid, of course, are true Welsh nationalists, seeking further devolution of powers and creation of a state-backed company, a new state-backed company, but why would you want this Welsh Government to do that when only a few weeks ago, when we were talking about the coal tips, they were looking to put that responsibility on the UK Parliament, saying we haven't got the resources here in Wales? [Interruption.] No, no, no, it's called devolution. Why would you want this Welsh Government that has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds, such as £221 million on uncompetitive enterprise zones, £9.3 million on flawed initial funding of the Circuit of Wales, and £130 million on propping up Cardiff Airport?
Now, the UK Government—Conservative—on the other hand is very much willing to prove it wants to deliver a green revolution, and here in Wales, with over £40 million committed to support the cluster of industries in south Wales to transition to net zero, £4.8 million being made available, subject to business case and other approvals, to support—[Interruption.]—to support a Holyhead hydrogen hub, and they've already committed £90 million to innovative Welsh net-zero projects.
Now, I was clear in the last Senedd that 'Future Wales: the national plan 2040' should have addressed the serious problems highlighted by stakeholders, and that is the severe lack of grid capacity in mid Wales. Only today I've been talking with energy developers, and they are really concerned about the situation in mid Wales. And it's something that you as a Welsh Government need to grasp that nettle on, and work cohesively with the UK Government to ensure that we can get that grid capacity increased. We need to know what deadline has been set to deliver the long-term plan and what steps will be taken to improve capacity in the short term, so that infrastructure can accommodate demand required to electrify our transport and heating infrastructure.
The Welsh Government must maximise the potential for renewable energy development by establishing a package of support for private investment in any new schemes, and this harks back to what you were saying earlier, Rhun, about small schemes. The Minister for Rural Affairs decided to withdraw really vital business rates support for privately-owned small-scale hydroelectric projects. Why not instead send a clear message to our farmers and land managers that the Welsh Government actually does support them in diversifying through investing in renewables? If you don't act now, the startling evidence of the last 'Energy Generation in Wales' report will simply be repeated: an increase in the total hydropower with capacity of less than 0.2 per cent; an increase of less than 1 per cent for Welsh solar photovoltaics capacity; no large-scale battery storage projects commissioned at all in 2019; and only a 0.6 MWh increase in domestic and small-scale commercial battery storage installations.
Whilst you can act to help bring forward private investment, there is a need for all levels of government—and I do appreciate that—to co-operate on delivering major energy schemes for Wales. Wylfa Newydd is a key example, and I thank—. Oh, he's gone; he was behind me. But Sam Kurtz mentioning about Wylfa and the work that our colleague Virginia Crosbie MP in Ynys Môn—. We can be working together on seeing a small modular reactor built in Trawsfynydd by the 2030s, and we have the incredibly exciting opportunity with the north Wales tidal lagoon, which could deliver entirely predictable blue power to over 1 million homes. Yes, I'll give way.