Solar industry welcomes boost for Welsh renewable energy

Smaller-scale solar farms in Wales will no longer require direct ministerial approval for construction, helping to deliver billions of pounds of investment in renewables across the nation.

As reported by Solar Energy UK, speaking at the Future Energy Wales conference at ICC Wales, Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning Rebecca Evans said that the planning inspectors of Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) would take decisions on projects under 50 megawatts’ capacity, instead. Doing so will cut decision making time by at least three months.

The announcement came shortly after a new analysis revealed that Wales had an unprecedented £46.8bn investment opportunity from expanding renewable energy by 2035 – a transformation that could drive long-term economic growth, create thousands of jobs, and invigorate Welsh communities.

The analysis projects an annual average investment of £3.9 billion, peaking at £7 billion in 2028. For Wales to secure thousands of new, well-paid jobs and capture the maximum local investment, there is urgent need for an effective industrial strategy and port infrastructure upgrades.

Evans further promised to speed up decision-making more broadly by recruiting new planning officers at both local and national level, something that Solar Energy UK has long pressed for across the UK.

Furthermore, the Welsh Government will be delivering renewable power itself via publicly-owned developer Trydan, which aims to have 250MW installed by 2030 and 750MW. Its energy company Ynni Cymru is working on expanding community-owned renewables.

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Credit: Solar Energy UK