Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 18 May 2022.
It's really nice to see a renewed interest in Wylfa and the development there. We're very keen to work—. We have a centre of excellence nearby for nuclear, and we have some of the world experts here in Wales for that. So, I'm very pleased to see the UK Government's renewed interest in that—maybe should have been a bit faster, quite frankly, over some of the more recent issues we've had, as everybody is aware, up there on Ynys Môn, with that. Having said that, obviously, nuclear is clean and renewable, but there are issues with nuclear, and I don't want to see an over-reliance on nuclear when we have an abundance of other natural resources here in Wales that can be exploited as part of a good, renewable energy system.
Just this morning, I gave evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee of the Houses of Parliament, in fact, about the need for good grid planning—in our view, devolution of the grid to Wales, so that we can have that plan—and a shift from what's currently a market-led and market-driven approach to grid, which has left us with no transmission in mid Wales, as your colleague Russell George and I have had numerous occasions on the floor of the Senedd and elsewhere about—transmission lines north and south being inadequate, because it's driven by a need for a particular developer to attach to the grid rather than a planned approach, and that, clearly, isn't a sustainable approach for the future. So, I welcome the UK Government's commitment to having an energy strategy. I regret that it includes oil and gas—I think that's a very retrograde step for net zero. But, the really fundamental thing is to get them into the space so they understand the need for a proper plan, and this is a good step on that path, so that we can plan out our future needs, as we are doing here in Wales, for our regional partners and get that grid in place so that we can have what is a fit-for-purpose twenty-first and twenty-second century grid, so we can take advantage here in Wales of the best renewable energy generation, keeping the cost low for people here in Wales and exporting that renewable energy out into the world, because we have easily the capacity to do that.