5. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Public Sector Role in the Future Energy System

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:21 pm on 25 October 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:21, 25 October 2022

Thank you very much, Huw. So, obviously, I'm not going to comment on that particular one, but just in general, one of the reasons we want a state player owned by us, the citizens of Wales, is to put pressure on all the other developments across Wales to show what can be done in a joint venture between a state-owned developer and community engagement and the joint venture partner. We've done a really good job with the community benefits, but community benefits are limited; you're not getting direct profit back from that. It's a profit share of sorts, but it's not a direct profit. What we're looking to do is have windfarms across Wales—and I absolutely emphasise I'm not talking about any particular one here—we want windfarms across Wales to seriously engage with us in making sure that, in building whatever windfarm they're building, some of the turbines are directly owned by the local community. So, they get the community benefit from the entire windfarm, but they actually directly own some of the turbines—so, they're put up on behalf of the community.

What we want to do, in development with Plaid Cymru and our co-operation agreement plans—and this is, I emphasise, under development, this is not agreed, but it's one of the discussions we're having—is to see whether that company—so, not this one I'm talking about here, but that other company—will be able to facilitate that ownership on behalf of local people, because one of the big issues for us is that local people are unlikely to be able to buy into stocks in those companies. So, to facilitate that ownership. So, a much more direct relationship, and, of course, therefore, a much more direct relationship throughout the whole process—so, in engagement, in design, in build, in skills, in delivery of energy projects and retrofitting of homes, in upskilling whole communities. 

One of the things I often say in conversations with the renewables—and this is why the grid part of this is so important—is that all over Wales there are homes that can look out of a window and see a windfarm but who are on off-grid oil, who cannot upgrade their houses in order to be able take advantage of things like air-source heat pumps because the investment is too much for them. Those windfarms can make a direct contribution to that. We need to upskill our communities to be able to ask for the right thing in community benefits. We need to get them the direct profit from owning some of the turbines, and this large-scale developer will be a big player in helping that conversation go along the joint venture lines.

I hasten to say again I'm not discussing any particular application here, but, clearly, what we're trying to do is put pressure into the whole system to make it behave in a particular way, and I hope this will not only be for onshore wind, but will also be for offshore wind. We've had very good conversations with the Crown Estate so far. We are very much hoping to have a similar conversation about the ownership and operation of offshore wind as well, because then we are talking serious amounts of energy being generated.