4. Statement by the Minister for Climate Change: Renewable Energy Targets

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 24 January 2023.

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Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 4:11, 24 January 2023

I very much welcome the statement we’ve heard from the Minister this afternoon, and I very much welcome the vision that you set out, Minister. I’m also very grateful to you for what you’ve just said in answer to the previous question, because I think a number of us were curious, if you like, about what Ynni Cymru would actually do.

I think there are other barriers beyond those that you’ve described in terms of community distributed energy generation. I think the other barriers are finance being available to local groups to enable them to invest in creating the sort of generation capacity that we need for a small community. There’s also the barrier of the technology that is best deployed in different places, and the barriers, of course, of creating the corporate entity that would then manage that project. So, there are a number of different barriers there, and you’ve already described planning, of course. When I was sitting in your seat as a Minister responsible for this, I found that most of my budget was being used fighting other parts of the public sector, and it was one of the most frustrating jobs that I’ve done. So, I think we need to unpick that, and to ensure that community generation is something that we can focus on.

The final point I’ll make, without testing the patience of the Deputy Presiding Officer too far, is the alternative to that, because in Blaenau Gwent, one of the smallest constituencies in the country, we have an application for Manmoel wind, Mynydd Carn-y-Cefn in Abertillery, Mynydd Llanhilleth, Abertillery, and two in the Rassau. That is too much for a small community, and the danger is that if you surround people with 185m turbines, what you do is not generate more energy, but lose the goodwill of the population, and that goodwill of the population is what’s going to help us achieve the targets that you’ve set out for us this afternoon.