Ein cyf/Our ref: NICW/25/EnergyOwnership

Rebecca Evans MS

Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning

3 July 2025

Dear Rebecca,

Thank you for meeting with us yesterday. We covered a range of topics, including our previous projects on renewable energy and flooding, as well as our current live activities of climate change communications and infrastructure assessments.

We mentioned the announcement of the award of lease for two major floating offshore projects with a third to follow. Whilst these developments are doubtless positive for a range of outcomes, they will almost certainly be owned by entities based entirely outside Wales, meaning that the vast majority of project value over their lifetime will leave Wales.

In our report of October 2023 on renewable energy we made the case for a mandatory offer of local or community ownership to be made for energy developments as a condition of planning. We emphasise that this is not a ‘free gift’; the investment would have to match that which the project developer would be investing for the same proportion of the project, meaning the developer is not out of pocket, and in principle the local owners would share some of the risk.

Nonetheless we believe that this would help strengthen the link between energy developments and the communities which host them, and importantly would start to allow businesses, communities and public sector organisations to benefit from ownership of large projects.

This policy recommendation has a strong international precedent. Denmark has required this component of any new wind project since 2011.

We would be delighted to meet with you or your officials to discuss this issue in more detail at your convenience.

Finally, we would like to thank you for your offer to extend the terms of the Commissioner appointments until after the election in May 2026. We believe that this extension will give us the opportunity to finish some important pieces of work, and to underpin thinking about a future iteration of the Commission that might be valuable for an incoming Welsh Government.

Yours sincerely,

Dr David Clubb - Chair

Dr Jenifer Baxter - Deputy Chair