Nuclear Power Stations

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:44 pm on 12 July 2022.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:44, 12 July 2022

Well, Llywydd, I very much agree with all parts of Joyce Watson's supplementary question. I entirely agree myself that the major contributor to Wales's energy future should be renewable energy and making use of all the fantastic natural resources that Wales has at our disposal. And it was disappointing, earlier this month, when the UK Government announced the outcome of its Contracts for Difference round 4, that Wales had only four projects confirmed in that bidding round. Twenty-four for Scotland, far, far more for England, and only four here in Wales. And as Joyce Watson says, of the four that were approved, only one was in marine technology, the other three were in established technologies. We welcomed the fact that the UK Government was going to provide some additional funding in this space, but £20 million was never going to be enough to do the things that we need to see here in Wales. I'm glad, of course, that one tidal stream project was successful, up at Morlais, but we know that there were other projects in that innovative space that would create the renewable energy of the future. We will work with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, following the announcement, to see why those other projects were not funded in the way we would want to have seen and to urge the UK Government to invest more in this space, because we will get far more back for that investment and far more quickly than some of the failed projects that they've invested in with no return in the past.