Written question WQ95469
- Asked by
- Rhun ap IorwerthPlaid
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 6 days
Question
Will the Welsh Government commit to developing a comprehensive and publicly accessible map detailing all existing and proposed renewable energy projects, including transmission lines, in Wales to enhance transparency and facilitate better scrutiny of developments?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
In Wales our approach to planning at the local regional and national levels is putting us in a strong position to be clear about our needs and provide the evidence for investment in energy infrastructure. We have led on a planned approach to the energy transition, looking at where people will be using energy and what networks are needed to connect this use with renewable generation and storage.
Wales has a plan-led planning system where the viability and likelihood of proposed projects is tested against evidence and is then examined. To provide more detail about the changes we need to see, we have supported all our local authorities to produce a Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP). These will then be feeding into local development plans. This provides a planned approach to viable and relevant projects.
We will shortly have a report bringing together the data from all the local energy plans to show the changes needed in each region and for the whole of Wales. This will inform the strategic regional plans the Corporate Joint Committees are charged with developing. These will be published on Datamap Wales.
We have no current plans to develop further mapping tools for energy projects in Wales.