Renewables: How is Wales contributing to greener energy?

• Report by ITV Wales Work and Economy Correspondent Carole Green

Talks at the COP26 climate summit have turned to how to transform our energy usage and finding ways of fuelling cars, powering industry and heating our homes.

Many developing countries still depend heavily on coal, which remains the world's biggest source of electricity. It is used to generate 35% of the world's power and it contributes to 39% of carbon dioxide emissions.

Windpower, solar power and tidal lagoons are all ways we can make energy in a sustainable way and move away from using coal.

The UK is among countries that have already committed to ending the use of coal-fired power stations.

And Wales has an important contribution to make in the Welsh and UK Governments' ambition to respectively reduce and balance carbon emissions.

Wales currently produces 25% of all its generated electricity from renewables but experts say it needs to be doing more to meet targets. 

Plans for mega solar farms and large energy projects like tidal lagoons still divide public opinion with plenty in opposition.

In Penmaenmawr Ken and Peter take a different view on plans for Awel Y Mor, another wind farm seven miles offshore.

"I'm not a big fan of windfarms," Ken said.

"They're a stopgap 'do for the time being' kind of technology."

"Once the wind stops blowing, the power goes. What we really need is a way of generating green energy 24/7."

Peter said the new scheme will ready within three years and people would sooner be assured of their electrical supply rather than the view.

In Bethesda, a community-owned hydroelectric scheme generates enough energy to power 150 homes and its supporters say it is one way of thinking globally whilst acting locally. 

Gareth Cemlyn Jones Chair of Ynni Ogwen said: "We believe this is a very important contribution towards net zero. The community must be at the heart of discussions regarding climate change."

Local people, including Judith Kaufmann, invested in the scheme and they say it is paying off: "It's going very well. I've been an investor since the start and all this rain is brilliant for generating electricity.

"We're keeping the money in the community, employing local people to do work and ploughing the money back into local projects."

In Wales, we produce twice as much energy as we use but with the ambition to go carbon neutral by 2050, renewable energy sources and local projects like Bethesda will need to play a more powerful part.