Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:03 pm on 2 November 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:03, 2 November 2021

Well, I thank Adam Price for that final question, Llywydd. He’s right to describe tidal power as a nascent technology. It was deeply disappointing to me in the comprehensive spending review that we heard nothing from the UK Government about how it is to help to solve the single greatest barrier to liberating the contribution that can be made from tidal power by creating a pathway to commercial exploitation. Here in Wales, we are making significant investments in the developmental side of those new technologies. But, inevitably, the power that they produce in the early stages is more expensive than more mature technologies. We have to find a pathway to market for tidal energy, and the UK Government has to play its part in that by supporting the price of that electricity during the period that it is developing that pathway. We heard nothing on that, and that really does not help us to make that nascent industry a real industry here in Wales.  

In answer to the Member's question on hydrogen, there’s very little indeed to be said in favour of grey hydrogen. The UK Government has a twin-track approach for blue and green hydrogen. We don't agree with that. Our plan is clear: that what we want is to rely on green hydrogen only, certainly by 2050. There is, I think, a different debate about whether in the short run there is some part that blue hydrogen can play, provided it is clear that it is on a pathway to green hydrogen exclusively, and I think we are at least open to that debate. But the Welsh Government's position is different to the UK Government's position on this. It's not a twin-track approach; it's a track to the use of green hydrogen only.

And I entirely agree with the final point that Adam Price made: we cannot allow the fossil fuel industry to greenwash its actions. Fossil fuels will become a thing of the past during the lifetime of many Members of this Senedd. That journey is inevitable and we need to commit ourselves to it wholeheartedly.