Wales should get 100 per cent of its energy from renewable sources and set up a Welsh not-for-profit energy service company, assembly members have said.
The energy supply company would build on the success of the not-for-profit water company Dwr Cymru. The Welsh government would set up an umbrella energy service company. Local authorities, city regions or communities could then offer ‘white label’ energy supply locally without their own supply licence.
The committee makes 19 recommendations in its report, including:
- Establish a clear vision for future energy policy, including a central role for local energy;
- Set annual targets to reduce demand for energy and help people to use it more efficiently;
- Urgently revise building regulations to ensure that all new houses are built to ‘near zero’ energy standards;
“Limiting future climate change by radically reducing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere is one of the greatest challenges faced globally, and yet addressing this challenge also presents opportunities to significantly enhance the well-being of current and future generations,” said Alun Ffred Jones AM, chair of the environment and sustainability committee.
He added: ”Underpinning the moral case for reducing Wales’s carbon emissions are international and domestic commitments to limiting average global temperature rises. In Wales we have taken a further step by establishing a legally-binding emissions reduction target. Wales’s only chance of meeting this target is to transform the way we all think about energy; its generation, distribution, storage and conservation.”
Read the full report: A Smarter Energy Future for Wales
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