Written question WQ95459
- Asked by
- Janet Finch-SaundersConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 7 days
Question
How is the Welsh Government collaborating with the UK Government to enhance the capacity of the national grid in Wales in preparation for an increase in renewable energy sources?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
The electricity system in the UK is a reserved area. However, we are engaging with the UK Government on this matter.
We have proactively set out to understand what the future needs for Wales will be in detail so we can represent Wales’s interests to UK Government, Ofgem and network companies. We published the report “Future Energy Grids for Wales”, which sets out the overall requirements to 2050. We have also funded each local authority to develop, with a range of stakeholders, a Local Area Energy Plan, which sets out the likely requirements within the authority’s boundaries.
The Welsh Government is using this data to work collaboratively with network operators, the National Energy System Operator (NESO), the regulator and the UK Government to ensure that the needs of Wales set out in this evidence inform plans for new grid.
The Welsh Government is a co-commissioner with the UK Government and Scottish Government for the new Strategic Spatial Energy Plan currently being developed by NESO. This will ensure that the needs of Wales, and its policies on how new networks should be developed, are heard as part of a UK-wide planned approach to locating renewable energy projects. In due course this plan will inform the strategic plan for new transmission networks for Great Britain.