Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Climate Change – in the Senedd at 2:14 pm on 8 February 2023.
Thank you very much, Minister. Yes, I do welcome the Welsh Government's commitment to ensure that the electricity needs of Wales in the future will be met from renewable sources, and that by 2035. But my question is related to how we intend to transmit that electricity across rural areas. Now, as you said, in areas of outstanding natural beauty or national parks there is an expectation for these electric cables to be buried underground, but there is no commitment that that should happen in areas outwith those designated areas. Over the past few weeks, I have heard about plans for the construction of new pylons in the Tywi valley—and I have to declare an interest, I do live in that area—to carry cables from mid Wales down to Carmarthenshire. I do say that the area is one of historic significance and beauty, and there are examples in European countries where they have placed cables underground. So, my question, without sounding too much like a Nimby, is whether the Welsh Government will commit to develop and implement a new set, a wider set, of measures with regard to placing electricity cables underground?