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.
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