Wind Turbines

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 8 December 2021.

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Photo of Joel James Joel James Conservative 1:35, 8 December 2021

Thank you, Minister. A RenewableUK Cymru analysis report has recently highlighted that, when spatial limitations are applied, such as proximity to housing, Ministry of Defence training areas, main river corridors, and even proximity to other windfarm developments, which would be applied during any planning application process, then the actual usable land that's available for windfarm developments within these pre-assessed areas drastically decreases to only 5 per cent, reducing the capacity to generate electricity from wind to only 20 per cent of what is predicted. This is, in effect, a major shortcoming of your renewable generation strategy, and, given that the Welsh Government's target is to generate 70 per cent renewable energy by 2030, it will no doubt seriously hinder the ability of that target to be met. With this in mind, can the Minister confirm whether or not she knows of these limitations, and whether or not the pre-assessed areas will need to be re-evaluated as a result? Thank you.