I'm pleased to see that the lack of grid capacity has been recognised in recommendation 6 and 7. It's the biggest barrier to the uptake of renewables within north Wales. There's no shortage of households that wish to have renewable energy, such as solar PV and air-source heat pumps, but getting to the grid—the distribution network operator installing it—is causing so many issues. I've been told that SP Energy Networks are particularly difficult to get anything of scale accepted, and there seems to be very little appetite for renewables to be connected to their grid in north Wales. They have left applications without an answer for as long as six months, adding delays and complications to projects.

Flintshire council has been very proactive in trying to use renewable energy on social housing to assist tenants, including sheltered accommodation. They wanted to install 300 solar PV systems a year, but are often refused permissions to install. Another case is one in Saltney, where, three years, ago the district network operator request was submitted for the installation of 100 solar PV systems, which was refused. The reason given was that the local network needed upgrading. We’re also three years on now, and nothing by way of an upgrade has been planned. With the increase in fuel bills over the period, we have a situation where 103 households are not receiving the benefits that solar panels would bring.

Shortly after the original application, Flintshire County Council received a quotation of £33,000 for the upgrade to be carried out, which understandably was not taken up because they couldn’t afford it. It does not seem right that the district network operator should need paying to upgrade their own network when they’re getting free electricity when other DNOs are saying that they do not need payment. So, that needs balancing out, really—why Scottish Power are saying that they do, and others do not. Another incident with north Wales social housing is where an apartment block wanted to install 54 air-source heat pumps offset by solar power, and again, this was refused by SP Energy Networks. However, they were told that they would be able to put in costly electric storage heaters, which was a far less desirable outcome, because they understood that technology, basically. So I think they’ve got a lack of understanding of technology. These are just examples of many that have been relayed back to me.

I think the key issue is that we’re never going to reach the proposed Welsh Government targets without a radical upgrade of the grid infrastructure and the understanding of these network providers. So, I’d be grateful if the Minister could expand on Welsh Government’s response to these recommendations in particular, as they are so essential to expanding renewable energy production, especially in rural areas.

I’m also very concerned that the Prime Minister does not seem to believe in climate change and the nature emergency, and wants to invest in fossil fuels and fracking—flying in the face is the ban on fracking not being lifted until it is categorically proved that it does not cause tremors. Geology experts are still unable to do this, yet they still want to go ahead with it, which is really concerning.

I was so pleased to see the building of the new engineering unit in Coleg Llandrillo in Rhyl, thanks to Welsh Government funding. They’re building a leading wind turbine energy skill centre there, which is fantastic. So they will be leading on upskilling engineering apprentices in north Wales, but also they’re hoping to have the contract for the north-west of England as well to make that provision in north Wales, which is fantastic. Thank you.