4. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Energy Policy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:51 pm on 8 November 2022.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 3:51, 8 November 2022

I agree with that, Alun, and so we will be bringing forward the infrastructure consenting Bill in this Assembly year—so, before the end of the summer term—to make sure that we streamline the consenting for big projects and make a very distinct distinction between the planning sets for those. We've been doing a series of training rounds with all of the planning authorities in Wales about how to approach that and to make sure that they are fully aware of 'Future Wales: The National Plan' and of the most recent iteration of 'Planning Policy Wales', which have set out all of the policies that you've set out there.

In terms of base load, that's why the tidal lagoon fiasco in Swansea bay is so sad, because we would have had a pilot project there to actually test out whether you could get base-load renewables. In the meantime, nuclear is the only option for that.

On nuclear—Janet Finch-Saunders, I didn't address the point when she raised it, but the way that that's paid for is absolutely nonsensical. So, at the moment, they use a model that spread the cost out amongst all of the consumers. Clearly, that it is idiotic. This should be being done as research and development projects, properly capitalised by the UK Government, and, of course, we should not have come out of the collaboration with European Union research universities to the detriment of pretty much everyone on the planet, never mind here in the UK. So, reversing that would be a good deal.

And then, on the last piece of that, because we've made a public state-owned renewable energy developer, that is the organ with which we will encourage, alongside Ynni Cymru and with Plaid Cymru, the community ownership of the larger scale renewable plants that will allow us to spread the profit out. Diolch.