The Welsh Government said it would examine the case for batteries with the new publicly-owned energy developer it will set up.
Speaking in the Senedd (Parliament), Labour’s Minister for Climate Change, Julie James said: “If other countries are anything to go by, then we should expect considerable returns from our investment and – as we share the ambitions of these other nations – we have a genuine opportunity to produce an income that will really help us to deliver here.”
Government spokesperson Danny Hayes-Lissack told BEST: “We will need more flexibility in the energy system alongside increased renewables. Vattenfall has already deployed battery technology alongside its windfarm on the woodland estate. We will be looking at the case for batteries as we develop each of the projects.”
The government said surplus funds generated through the new developer would go back into the public purse to be reinvested in improving energy efficiency in homes in Wales and creating good quality, home grown, clean energy jobs.
The government aims to have more than one gigawatt of locally-owned generation by 2030. The new state-owned energy developer will scale up renewable energy rollout, initially through the development of onshore wind projects on the Welsh Government woodland estate. It will work in conjunction with private companies, the minister said.
Since 2005, Natural Resources Wales has overseen the installation of four projects totalling 441 MW of onshore wind, with a further 134MW still in development.
Photo: Labour’s Minister for Climate Change, Julie James: “If other countries are anything to go by, then we should expect considerable returns from our investment”
