Prime Minister Kier Starmer and the First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, have pledged a future of collaboration and clean energy investment while visiting a wind farm in West Wales.
The two leaders have committed to investing heavily in renewable energy development in Wales and the rest of the UK, through both the newly launched Great British Energy and Wales’s own publicly owned renewable energy developer, Trydan Gwrdd Cymru.
Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru, which is owned by the Welsh Government, was developed in just a year and officially launched last month. According to the government, the company is on course to produce 1GW of clean energy by 2040, focusing primarily on onshore wind development, which is expected to see a major boom following Labour’s removal of the de facto ban on onshore wind developments just days after taking office.
First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, said: “Our publicly-owned renewable energy developer, Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru, is a long-term sustainable investment that puts net zero and the communities of Wales at the heart of the energy transition. While the previous UK government focused on fracking and fossil fuels – opposed by most communities and incompatible with our international obligations – we took positive action to ensure we deliver on our environmental commitments.”
Meanwhile, the Welsh government is working with the Crown Estate to unlock 1,000km2 of seabed on which to construct offshore wind farms with a potential capacity of up to 4.5GW. On this, Morgan added: “Harvesting our wind and using it to produce power offers us, and the people of Wales, the ability to own the returns on what will be a significant investment.”
The UK Government has also engaged with The Crown Estate to drive renewable energy production through a deal that could leverage up to £60 billion of private investment into UK renewable energy developments. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “We have inherited an incoherent energy policy that has left homes up and down the country vulnerable to rocketing energy bills. But the Welsh Government has made important strides that we can now build on, and I am determined that Wales is at the very heart of our mission to make Britain an energy superpower, with renewables powering homes right across the country.
“Great British Energy will put the whole of the United Kingdom on the right path to deliver the independence we need, while helping to deliver lower bills for households and businesses and creating the next generation of skilled jobs.”
The Prime Minister and First Minister’s two-day engagement will see them discuss how green investment jumpstart renewable development in Wales. This is a topic that has been of significant focus to the newly-elected Labour government, which launched its own green investment strategy through the creation of the National Wealth Fund within two weeks of the general election.
