Wales will set up a state-owned renewable energy company

Wales is to create a state-owned renewable energy company to tackle energy insecurity, the cost of living crisis and the climate crisis.

The company, which does not yet have a name, will initially develop onshore wind farms in forested areas of the country, the Welsh Government confirmed on Tuesday.

It is expected to launch in April 2024 and will become the only government-run company of its kind in the UK.

The country’s climate change minister, Julie James, said the “significant” profits generated by the company would be reinvested in the community, with the proceeds also going towards making homes more energy efficient and creating clean energy jobs.

During a statement in the Senedd, Ms James said: “This is a truly historic moment for Wales.

“If other countries are at all possible, we should expect significant returns on our investments, and because we share the ambitions of these other countries, we have a real opportunity to generate income that will really help us achieve results here.”

She added: “We are facing a climate crisis and our approach contrasts sharply with that of the UK Government, which is focused on fracking and fossil fuels – which is opposed by the majority of the community and inconsistent with our international commitments.”

The minister called the current UK market “bad for those paying the bills” and said his ambition was to lower energy prices for Welsh households.

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer announced last month that in the party’s first year of government, if the party comes to power, it would create a public clean energy company.

The government in Cardiff Bay has said it is working on the idea of ​​starting a renewable energy business from early 2020.

It is estimated that the first projects will begin two to three years after the company launches, with money starting to flow by the end of the decade.

However, limited network capacity outside the North and South Wales corridors will limit the type of projects the Government can pursue.

A report published last week by the UK Government’s Welsh Affairs Commission said the lack of action in Westminster to improve network connectivity poses a “serious threat to economic growth in Wales”.

Committee chairman Stephen Crabb, MP, said Wales had “huge potential” in the renewable energy market and called for “accelerating network improvements”.

Currently, many renewable energy projects in Wales, as in the rest of the UK, are run by other state-owned enterprises.

Pen y Cymoedd, the largest wind farm in England and Wales, which can produce enough electricity annually to power 15% of Welsh homes, was built by Swedish company Vattenfall.

Another project in south Wales, called Y Bryn, is being developed by the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) and Coriolis consortium. ESB is 95% owned by the Irish government.

Other state-owned developers operating in Wales include China and Norway.