The Welsh Government’s latest energy generation report for 2023 reveals that Wales still has a lot of ground to cover to meet its 2035 renewable energy targets.
Key Highlights:
– In 2023, renewable electricity generation covered 53% of Wales’ current consumption, down from 59% in 2022.
– Against the estimated 2035 demand, only 27% was met through renewables in 2023. This means a nearly fourfold increase in renewable electricity generation is needed.
– Whilst 109 MW of new renewable electricity capacity was installed in 2023, 108 MW of this was solar, and most of this was small-scale development.
– For the first time since the 1990s, no new wind projects (onshore or offshore) were commissioned in Wales.
We have seen some welcome improvement with the rate of planning determinations under the current Welsh Government leadership. However, this latest report demonstrates that there is more progress required on large-scale infrastructure development and wind energy deployment, if Wales is to reach the milestone we are all working towards – meeting 100% of annual electricity consumption through renewables by 2035. Meanwhile, the now lesser-mentioned target of meeting 70% of consumption by 2030 risks becoming unachievable without rapid and decisive action.