Welsh Government
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Wales works with European regions to speed up move to greener, cleaner energy
Wales will be working closely with regional governments from throughout Europe as part of its efforts to speed up the transition to renewable energy.
This was the message from Environment Minister, Jane Davidson who has given her full support to Wales' involvement in the strategic EU RENREN (Renewable ENergy REgions Network) project. The RENREN project will investigate how regional governments can work together to accelerate the shift towards renewable energy and in doing so support aspirations for a greener, cleaner energy future.
The RENREN project has been launched at a conference in Kiel, in Germany and will see the network's 14 partners debating how they can play their part in global action to tackle climate change and ensure a secure and sustainable energy supply for this and future generations.
Speaking about the project, the Minister said:
"The launch of the RENREN network is great news for Wales. This is precisely the sort of partnership working we need to help us successfully tackle climate change and deliver the impressive potential for low carbon energy set out in our recently launched energy policy statement, A Low Carbon Revolution.
"Our future well being, both material and social, are dependent on our achieving sufficient supplies of affordable low carbon energy. Done successfully, this will strengthen our economic well being, improve the environment and help to address key social issues such as fuel poverty.
"Just as Wales took a lead in the industrial revolution, we believe it can also play an important role in the green energy revolution."
RENREN will work to improve regional frameworks for renewable energy expansion. It will explore the enabling conditions for renewables and will look at how these can be fine-tuned to support different technologies, such as marine, wind, biomass or solar.
The project will also focus on sharing good practice with the outputs of the project being made available to a wider audience of stakeholders through a series of events and the project's website. RENREN is is funded under the EU Interreg IVC programme.