Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 30 March 2022.
Well, as Jane Dodds rightly mentioned, we have that target to increase energy generation by over 100 MW between now and 2026 by public bodies. We've seen the excellent example of Morriston Hospital, where a solar farm has now been opened that is powering the hospital entirely for a significant amount of time. We are very committed to working with community energy groups, because, as I said, the principle coming out of the deep dive was that not only do we need to meet our climate change targets, but we need to do it in a way that retains wealth within our local economy, and we don't want to see a repeat of extractive economic development that we've seen in previous industrial revolutions happen this time. So, community energy is essential to that. And there is much to admire about the Scottish Community and Renewable Energy Scheme. We have our own scheme, the Welsh Government's energy service, which provides technical and commercial support to community-led projects. We've recently awarded £2.35 million to the Egni Co-op to deliver another phase of its excellent rooftop solar programme, which I visited in Caerleon recently, and that will be delivering a further 2 MW of locally owned capacity and providing, crucially, a community share offer. So, not only are these public buildings getting cheap and free electricity, they're also getting a share in the co-op. It's an excellent example.
So, in terms of the Scottish example, our own local energy grant and our local energy loan funds, in fact, offer more generous support than the Scottish scheme does. But I think their community outreach model is a very interesting one, and one I'd certainly be interested in looking at further myself. So, thank you for bringing that to our attention.