The Prime Minister and Welsh First Minister will supercharge efforts to make Britain a clean energy superpower today, by investing in homegrown energy to grow the economy, create jobs, boost skills, and strengthen our energy independence.
Visiting a wind farm in West Wales which benefitted from Welsh Government funding, the Prime Minister and First Minister will pledge close cooperation to unleash the benefits of a publicly owned energy company, in the pair’s first official visit since the appointment of the First Minister.
The Prime Minister will pledge to build on work already done by the Welsh Government to establish a publicly owned energy company.
The UK government is seizing the economic opportunity to deliver Great British Energy, that will own and invest in clean power projects in regions and nations across the UK. The company will be backed by £8.3 billion of new money over this Parliament.
As part of the reset in relationship with the Welsh Government, based on a genuine partnership of collaboration and respect, the two leaders are joining forces to deliver clean energy investment across Wales and the rest of the UK. This marks a fresh start under the new Government.
The Prime Minister will reiterate the Government’s commitment to end an era of rocketing energy bills and price instability with a long-term plan to deliver clean power by 2030. Families across the country have suffered during the cost-of-living crisis, as the UK’s over-reliance on fossil fuel markets was exploited by Putin.
Great British Energy is part of the Government’s commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower, with clean power by 2030. This will boost the country’s energy independence, so that families and businesses are never left that vulnerable again, and kickstart economic growth.
Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru – a company owned by the Welsh Government – was built from scratch in just 12 months and is already boosting Wales’s green economy and setting the UK on course for energy security. This is on course to produce 1 GW of clean energy by 2040 – enough to power up to a million homes in Wales, helping reduce bills in the long term.
The Welsh Government is also already working with The Crown Estate to unlock 1,000 km2 of seabed. This will create brand new windfarms that have the capacity to produce up to 4.5 gigawatts of renewable electricity. The Crown Estate estimates this could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of every home in Wales three times over, or host 1.4 million events at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium a year.
The visit comes as The Crown Estate embarks on the latest phase of its Offshore Wind Leasing Round 5, which will see bidders set out their plans for delivering new wind farms, explaining how this will support the delivery of wider social and economic benefits for onshore communities.
The Crown Estate also estimates these planned windfarms could create more than 5,000 new jobs in construction and deliver a £1.4 billion boost to the economy.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:
We have inherited an incoherent energy policy that has left homes up and down the country vulnerable to rocketing energy bills.
But the Welsh Government has made important strides that we can now build on, and I am determined that Wales is at the very heart of our mission to make Britain an energy superpower, with renewables powering homes right across the country.
Great British Energy will put the whole of the United Kingdom on the right path to deliver the independence we need, while helping to deliver lower bills for households and businesses and creating the next generation of skilled jobs.
The UK Government has recently announced plans to supercharge this work with a landmark deal between Great British Energy and The Crown Estate which has the potential to leverage up to £60 billion of private investment into the UK’s drive for energy independence.
The government has inherited acute challenges where high energy bills have placed a huge burden on people across the country. Had this work to deliver green energy started earlier, the UK would be producing more of its own homegrown energy sources. This would have left the UK’s energy supply less susceptible to price spikes caused by geopolitical and economic shocks– such as Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
First Minister of Wales, Eluned Morgan, said:
Our publicly-owned renewable energy developer, Trydan Gwyrdd Cymru, is a long-term sustainable investment that puts net zero and the communities of Wales at the heart of the energy transition.
While the previous UK government focused on fracking and fossil fuels – opposed by most communities and incompatible with our international obligations – we took positive action to ensure we deliver on our environmental commitments.
Harvesting our wind and using it to produce power offers us, and the people of Wales, the ability to own the returns on what will be a significant investment.
The second leg of his two-day visit will focus on the government’s mission to see how green investment can power tens of thousands of homes across the South West Wales region and provide millions of pounds in funding for the neighbouring community.
As one of several renewables sites across Wales, the site they are visiting is a key contributor to the sector’s role in providing clean energy to the nation, supporting thousands of jobs, and training the workforce of the future. He will also meet with apprentices and the workers running the site.
This government is wasting no time in introducing measures that will get us closer to energy independence. Already the Energy Secretary has:
- Scrapped the ban on onshore wind development
- Took planning decisions on three solar farms within days of taking office
- Introduced legislation to build Great British Energy
- Signed a deal with The Crown Estate that will build more offshore wind and could leverage up to £60 billion in investment
That is all ahead of plans to help protect consumers and introduce a Warm Homes Plan that will help homeowners insulate their houses cheaper – helping us achieve clean power by 2030.
Taken together, these steps will help prevent consumers from being beholden to price spikes abroad, while helping us achieve our Net Zero commitments.
