James Evans has further questioned the Welsh Government about large-scale windfarms planned for his constituency.
The Brecon and Radnorshire MS asked Economy Secretary, Jeremy Miles, at the Senedd about any talks he has had with developers.
He said that with the Government aiming for 70 per cent renewable energy consumption by 2030, many windfarm developers will need compulsory purchase orders to acquire the land they need.
Video from Senedd.tv
The Brecon and Radnorshire MS asked Economy Secretary, Jeremy Miles, at the Senedd about any talks he has had with developers.
He said that with the Government aiming for 70 per cent renewable energy consumption by 2030, many windfarm developers will need compulsory purchase orders to acquire the land they need.
Video from Senedd.tv
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NewsTranscript
00:00Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on discussions of developers of large-scale
00:04wind farms in Brecon and Radnorshire?
00:11I have not had any discussions with individual developers regarding large-scale wind projects
00:16in specific locations in Wales.
00:18I continue to engage with the renewable industry through round-table discussions and through
00:24Renewable UK Cymru to understand the opportunities and the challenges to scaling up renewables
00:29in Wales.
00:30Thank you for your answer, Cabinet Secretary.
00:33With the Welsh Government aiming for 70% renewable energy consumption by 2030, a lot of these
00:38wind farm developments are going to need compulsory purchase orders to get land.
00:42So I'm interested to know, will the Welsh Government be helping these companies with
00:45their compulsory purchase orders for their large-scale developments?
00:49In addition to that, if some of these proposed wind farms become commercially non-viable
00:54in the future or some of the companies running them go bust, can you today, Cabinet Secretary,
00:59rule out that the Welsh Government will not step in and take forward any of these schemes
01:04as part of the Welsh Government's energy company?
01:06I don't think there's any suggestion of that.
01:09Our policy as a Government is to support the principle of developing renewable and low-carbon
01:15energy from a range of technologies.
01:17You will know that, from the point of view of planning and consenting, the Infrastructure
01:22Wales Bill will be a step change in that as an Act, which will bring forward new consenting
01:32processes, streamlining, unifying both those consenting arrangements for renewables as
01:40well as other large-scale devolved infrastructure projects in Wales.
01:45From a planning and a consenting perspective, my interest as the energy Minister is making
01:52sure that there is sufficient capacity in that part of the system to enable projects
01:59to be taken forward in a way which complies with planning requirements, respects the needs
02:05of local communities.
02:06So, there have been a number of process improvements, which we've introduced already, as well as
02:11additional dedicated funding for Natural Resources Wales, and I'm hopeful that will
02:16make a significant contribution.