Environment and Sustainability Committee

The Welsh Government is failing to make the most of renewable energy sources due to the lack of targets according to large energy companies.

The Sustainability committee was taking evidence from West Coast Energy, RenewableUK Cymru and Tidal Cymru on energy policy and planning in Wales

The government's targets are "unclear" and "inconsistent" according to West Coast Energy.

Chief Executive Gerry Jewson stressed the need for "certainty" in order for national and global industries to invest in Wales.

Mr Jewson also underlined the importance of establishing clear targets and said that Scotland was way ahead of Wales in terms of renewable energy targets.

Scottish First minister Alex Salmond has said that Scotland could theoretically generate all its electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

Planning and Development Director Steve Salt agreed that there was a "definitely a problem" in Wales with developing on-shore wind farms.

Mr Salt raised his concerns that many communities in Wales were very negative towards large scale wind farm projects and stressed the need to inform them of their benefits.

Martin Murphy from Tidal Energy said his company was specifically targeting Wales' renewable energy sources.

Tidal Energy have recently developed a tidal power scheme designed to generate electricity for 1,000 homes in Pembrokeshire.

Mr Murphy said: "We have got no reason to focus our energy anywhere else other that in Wales."

Llewelyn Rhys from RenewableUK Cymru also raised his concerns with the complexity of the planning process in Wales.

Mr Rhys said: "There is a backlog of wind farms that have been waiting a very long time to have their planning proposals approved."

Read this in Welsh.