6. Debate on the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Report: Renewable energy in Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:10 pm on 19 October 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 4:10, 19 October 2022

The Member for Aberconwy makes my second point for me.

The first role potentially for Government is more of a passive role; it provides the environment by which other people can take decisions and make investments. The second role, I think, is a far more interesting role. The way I framed the question, of course, provides the answer to where I'm standing, and that's an active driver of change. The public sector—we had this debate yesterday over public spending, to some extent—can change the terms of how we do things in our society. I very much very welcome some of the decisions that are being taken that will enable us to deliver an energy policy that is focused on local control, local management and on a distributed form.

Clearly, we need the major grid structures and we need to be able to deliver base-load supply—I understand all of that—but we also have to understand that Ofgem is another failed regulator. One of the issues we've got—. This is where I disagreed with the Blair Government that ownership doesn't matter and you can achieve everything by regulation. I believe ownership does matter. I believe not just the ethos of a public company, but also the ability of a public company to deliver for a public good, is actually an important point for all of us.

So, what I would like to see the Welsh Government focusing on—and the Government does say this in parts of its response—is more localised energy production and generation. Now, how do we do that? How do we de-risk that? How do we provide the finance that would enable, for example, reformed local government to invest in local energy companies, or co-operative and collaborative energy supply opportunities? I believe that's a very, very fascinating debate that we can have. And I would beg the Minister—I can see my time is drawing to a close—