2. What is the Welsh Government doing to promote large-scale renewable energy projects in Wales? OQ57811

Llywydd, I thank the Member for that question. The Welsh Government promotes renewable energy projects across a range of technologies and scales, including through the marine energy programme. Our priority is to retain wealth here, in Wales, alongside tackling the global climate crisis, and our aim for Wales is to generate renewable energy to at least fully meet our own energy needs.

Diolch, Prif Weinidog. 2019 saw 51 per cent of Wales's electricity consumption come from renewables, with onshore and offshore wind making the biggest contribution. However, the world has changed greatly since 2019—sky rocketing gas prices and over-reliance on Russian gas across Europe have highlighted the fragility of the current system. Wales is rich in coastline; tidal power is clean, green and infinite. The Severn estuary has the second largest tidal range in the world and is a currently untapped resource. In light of the changing international picture and a new-found impetus for greater self-reliance when it comes to energy, what more can we do in Wales to support large-scale renewable projects ourselves, and how is the Welsh Government working to push the UK Government to recognise the importance of Wales harnessing the opportunities for green energy we have on our doorstep?

I thank Jayne Bryant for that very important question in the context of the events we see unfolding across the world today. We have to reduce our reliance on power from volatile parts of the world, with Governments that would not meet our tests for what a reasonable and decent Government would provide. It's very good news that over half the electricity we consumed in Wales, in the latest year for which we have figures, was over half the energy we needed, and we had the longest continuous period where we were able to draw power from renewables in the same time. But we have to go further, of course, and Wales is very well-placed indeed, Llywydd, to do just that: the Garn Fach proposal in mid Wales—we've discussed that on the floor of the Senedd not long ago—about to go into the formal part of the planning system; the Brechfa forest development of onshore wind, in the Welsh Government's own estate; Awel y Môr, to follow Gwynt y Môr, in north Wales, with fixed offshore wind; and the Crown Estate engaged in a leasing round of up to 4 GW of floating wind in the Celtic sea. We have the most enormous opportunities here in Wales, but there is more that could and should be done.

Llywydd, I've revisited the Charles Hendry review report in recent days. I can tell you it makes for very sobering reading, because, amongst the case that it made for the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, energy security was one of the cases that that review focused on. Had that scheme been given the go-ahead, we would be very close now to it being able to supply energy here in Wales, and we would have learnt a tremendous amount, as the Hendry review said, from that demonstration project. Of course the UK Government needs to come back to the table, to be prepared to invest in the renewable energy of the future, and to provide the feed-in tariffs that made such an important difference in bringing solar and wind energy prices to where they are today, and where marine energy can be in the future, but where, in the meantime, investment has to be provided while those technologies are inevitably at their formative stage going to be more expensive than mature technologies will be. We make that case to the UK Government all the time, and I'll make sure that we go on doing so.  

First Minister, Mostyn SeaPower Ltd are currently going out to tender for review of the initial design and costings for a tidal energy scheme here in north Wales, and one that would create 300 construction jobs and employ 35 people during its operational life of more than 100 years. This scheme would provide low-carbon electricity for 82,000 homes, as well as four miles of flood defences, and according to the managing director, they say, 

'To date we have invested heavily without any government funding in getting to this point but we now need support to give potential funders added confidence to invest in the project.'

There are proposals from as many as eight other lagoons around the Welsh coast, which is well-suited, as has been mentioned, for this form of renewable energy. Now, whilst the UK Government has committed to investing £20 million per year in tidal stream electricity, would you clarify today what support the Welsh Government will give to these tidal energy projects that are coming forward now in the next financial year? Diolch. 

Well, the Member was doing quite well, Llywydd, I thought, for quite a while, before the question went so badly off the rails. Look, let me respond positively to the parts that were in the original portion of Janet Finch-Saunders's question, because she makes the important point that Swansea is not the only part of Wales that has ambitions for tidal lagoon energy. It's why, in our programme for government, we have a commitment to develop a tidal lagoon challenge, and I'll be meeting the climate change Minister about that later this afternoon. That will offer an opportunity for communities in different parts of Wales who feel that they are best placed to have that demonstration project that was failed in Swansea, to allow that technology to be tested in that way.

I welcome the £20 million in tidal stream investment. It's very important to us here in Wales, but it's not just for lagoon energy; it's also going to have to support offshore wind, other forms of marine energy where there is real potential in the north of Wales and in the Ramsey sound, and I just have to repeat—this is where I felt the question really didn't offer us an accurate reflection of events here—we would be very close already to having tidal lagoon energy here in Wales had her Government not pulled the plug on the Swansea project, despite the report from a Conservative—a Conservative—former Cabinet member, commissioned by a Conservative—. As I remember—I hear the leader of the opposition chuntering away at me—as I remember, at the time, the Conservative Party, under different management no doubt, supported the Swansea bay tidal lagoon. It's a shame that they weren't more effective. 

I'm grateful to Jayne Bryant for tabling this extremely important question today, and it's right, if we are going to promote renewables, that we need to look at where we invest and where others invest for us, and that is a key part of this. First Minister, you'll be aware of a growing campaign to divest public sector pension funds away from fossil fuels to create the space for the key investment in renewable technologies, and you'll be aware that I've been working with Friends of the Earth Cymru to establish a Welsh Government target for public sector pension funds to disinvest. I believe this could be done by making it part of the 2030 public sector targets to become carbon neutral. Now, next week—and I extend the invitation to all Members across the Chamber—I'll be holding an event to discuss this issue further, to understand what we can do more. But can you commit today, First Minister, to asking officials from Welsh Government, perhaps from the department of finance, to join this event to understand, in collaboration with Members from across the Chamber, what we can do to make this a reality? Because we need to make this a reality for the people in the gallery to live a happy and successful life.

I congratulate Jack Sargeant on mounting that event. It will be a very important discussion, and I'm very happy to offer not simply that a Welsh Government official would attend the event, but, if it's helpful, to have someone to speak and make a contribution so that the work that is going on inside the Welsh Government on local ownership and funding for renewables can be part of that discussion. It will be able to draw on the work that we have embarked upon with pension scheme representatives from local government to discuss the potential of investing from those pension funds into renewables here in Wales. Pension funds need long-term reliable returns on the investments they make, but I know that the people whose money has built up those pension funds would like to see those funds doing good for the future of Wales and not simply for themselves but for their families and their futures. And in that spirit, I welcome very much the Member's initiative in calling such a meeting and will be very happy for Welsh Government officials to take part.