Issue - meetings

1.     To endorse the Main Report and Technical Report of the Gwynedd Local Area Energy Plan, understanding that the Actions and Recommendations assigned to Cyngor Gwynedd are subject to securing and maintaining the necessary funding.

2.     It was agreed that a governance and monitoring mechanism for the Actions and Recommendations will need to be developed in conjunction with Ambition North Wales and other north Wales local authorities and brought back to Cabinet for approval. The mechanism should lead to:

• Agreeing a governance structure

• Aligning the North Wales Regional Energy Strategy (and action plan) with the Local Area Energy Plan

• Aligning the Local Area Energy Plan with national energy plans that can be developed by NESO (National Energy System Operator) on behalf of the Welsh Government

• Identifying key performance indicators

• Formation of a Regional Steering Group

The report was presented by Cllr Craig ab Iago.

DECISION

The report was accepted.

DISCUSSION

The report was praised, but it was noted that it was unlikely that resources and funding would come from the Welsh Government to implement the Scheme at this stage.

Concern was expressed that the climate change plans were not part of Welsh culture at the moment, despite the importance of meeting the targets set. It was noted that there was uncertainty about the outcome of the Senedd Election in 2026 and how this would affect the focus on environmental issues moving forward.

It was confirmed that the depth of this scheme meant that it could be used regardless of the Election outcome.

The importance of working with other organizations in Gwynedd to implement the Scheme was emphasised. Everyone was reminded that this was not just a scheme for Cyngor Gwynedd but a scheme for the whole of Gwynedd.

It was stated that the Scheme formed part of a network of local energy schemes for each county in Wales and would feed into an existing regional scheme. It was added that these schemes would hopefully lead to a Government-led national energy plan.

It was explained that the Scheme sought to look at where and by whom the energy demand was, and how the energy was generated and distributed. It was added that the Technical Report was useful as it included a valuable and trustworthy database, but it was confirmed that this would need to be updated in a few years, as situations changed.

It was recommended that this scheme needed to be reviewed and updated every 3 – 5 years.

Comments arising from the discussion:

·       It was mentioned that Ambition North Wales had a number of plans in the pipeline and it was asked whether there were any intentions to discuss with them to try and secure funding to realise plans from the report. It was explained that there was an intention to ensure discussions at a regional level, including with Ambition North Wales, and that applications for further funding were being submitted to the Welsh Government or relevant organisations to fund the schemes.

·       It was stated that over £270 million had been invested in green energy between 2012 and 2025 but that the returns from this were over £400 million. Reiterating the importance of this Scheme, it was added that investment in green energy helped the economy as well as job creation, which in turn ensured that we reached the net zero targets.

·       It was noted that these statistics had been highlighted by the Government when talking about a circular economy, despite not investing to deliver such schemes.