Renewable Energy

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 15 March 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:42, 15 March 2022

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.