The Welsh Government has just published a set of recommendations following completion of its renewable energy deep dive. In this short blog, Director of RenewableUK Cymru Rhys Wyn Jones gives his reflections on its findings.
I was very grateful for the opportunity to sit on the steering group on behalf of RenewableUK members, and to listen to and learn from colleagues across the sector.
Too often we don’t seek out opinions from those who we might consider to be ‘competitors’ (our energy system needs to be joined up remember?). We need to reach out to them and work with them.
As for the recommendations, there will obviously be divergent views about how useful they are, how progressive and how innovative - and whether they go far enough and fast enough - but for me the only thing that really counts now is delivery.
So when actions have deadlines, these deadlines need to be met. When they don’t, our collective responsibility is to demand that they don’t fall by the wayside.
From an industry point of view, my over-arching focus is the importance of being able to have an intelligent, ongoing conversation about opportunities to develop our future energy system and bring economic benefits to Wales. I’m heartened that this is moving in the right direction.
I don’t think anyone who participated in the exercise would deny the fact that these recommendations highlight the complexity and scale of the challenge.
From the level of investment required, the knotty policy and technology choices, the hammering out of appropriate regulation (and the resource to deal with it), there’s a stack to do and to think about.
But by bringing a diverse range of views together from across the sector, it’s possible to start to make clear what previously might have appeared daunting - and take the right actions.