We’ve recently been commissioned by the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA) to write a report producing recommendations for community and local ownership of renewable energy schemes in Wales. The report is part of the IWA’s Re-energising Wales project, a three-year project to deliver a roadmap for how Wales can meet its projected energy demand from 100% renewable sources by 2035.
The report recognises the need to stimulate the stalling renewables sector, and how with the pipeline of projects flowing again, the value can be retained locally for Welsh communities, businesses and the public sector. The report makes recommendations for the protection, promotion and upscaling of community and local ownership of renewable energy in Wales to maximise its social and economic value. It looks at examples of how this has been achieved in other places, along with uniquely Welsh factors that could be used to encourage more community and local ownership of renewable energy schemes. Our recommendations to achieve this followed four themes:
- Shared ownership
- Establishing a local energy company for Wales
- Planning and land access
- Access to the grid
The recommendations we set out build on the Welsh Government’s renewable energy targets set in September 2017:
- to generate 70% of its electricity consumption from renewable energy by 2030,
- for 1 GW of renewable electricity generation to be locally owned by 2030 and
- for all renewable energy projects to have an element of local ownership by 2020.
Onshore renewable electricity generation capacity, in line with these ambitious ownership targets set by the Welsh Government, forms the scope of the report, which comprised of desk-based research and a series of interviews with key stakeholders, also drawing on Regen’s expertise in innovative local energy models.
Read the full report with recommendations when it’s be published as part of the Re-energising Wales launch in Cardiff on 14 March.