Written question WQ87081

Our Heat Strategy will identify the key barriers and proposed solutions to the roll-out of low carbon heat across Wales, drawing on published evidence and input from expert advisory panels and feedback to our public consultation. Cost implications will be considered as we develop our proposals, and we will identify our ask of the UK Government to invest directly in infrastructure and to provide us with sufficient funding to upscale our programmes. Our Future Energy Grids for Wales project is developing insights on the network requirements to deliver net zero, including the need to decarbonise domestic heating. In the meantime, we are funding local area energy plans in each of our Local Authority areas to identify future energy need and opportunities to match this need to local sources of renewable energy.

We are also already delivering energy efficient, comfortable homes via programmes designed to help improve energy efficiency across Wales. These include the Optimised Retrofit Programme (ORP), the Warm Homes Programme and standards for social homes such as the proposed Welsh Housing Quality Standard (WHQS) 2023.

We are working with social landlords through both the WHQS and ORP to improve both the affordability of heating homes and to decarbonise the heating systems in homes.

For homes outside the social housing sector, the Warm Homes Programme is designed to provide support for people most in need. This includes the demand led Nest Scheme, which provides free advice on energy saving measures to all households, and for eligible homes, supports energy efficiency measures which can include a central heating system, Solar PV etc. From 2009/10 to the end of March 2021, more than £394m has been invested to improve home energy efficiency through the programme, benefitting more than 67,100 lower income households. Alongside this more than 160,800 people have received energy efficiency advice through the Warm Homes Programme since its launch in 2011.