Welsh government announces funding for greener social homes

An additional £150m has been announced by the deputy minister for climate change to retrofit social homes with new technologies and insulation in order to help cut Wales’ emissions.

The Welsh government’s Optimised Retrofit Programme will assess what technologies work best in individual homes with the aim of ensuring optimum energy efficiency, cost effectiveness and environmental credentials.

The programme will see homes better insulated and install smart technologies so tenants can control their energy use, as well as installing clean technologies such as heat pumps, solar panels, and battery storage.

Housing is one of Wales’ biggest emitters, accounting for 9% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Deputy minister for climate change, Lee Waters, said: ‘Today I’m announcing an extra £150m to improve the energy efficiency of existing social homes in Wales through our Optimised Retrofit Programme. This investment will not only reduce emissions but will cut the energy bills of the people who live in them.

‘And we are already trialling heat pumps, intelligent energy systems and solar panels with battery storage. We are taking a whole homes approach, which assesses what will work best in individual homes. The programme will see homes become so well insulated that heat would no longer wastefully escape. Today’s announcement will help thousands more families be warm in their homes and support a just transition towards decarbonisation.’

The Welsh government previously announced a ban on fossil fuel use to heat newly built social homes, with ambitions for the private sector to follow by 2025.

It has also committed to building 20,000 low carbon social homes for rent over the next five years.

Photo supplied by Welsh government