Welsh Government has doubled its spending on social housing for rent, committing an initial £250m in 2021 to 2022 for 20,000 new low carbon homes.

All homes will be built to bold new quality and environmental standards with the aim for some of the stock to go beyond net zero and produce more energy than they use. A further announcement on this is expected before the end of this month.

The 14 home development has made use of the latest technical innovations in renewable energy, from exhaust air heat pumps integrated with mechanical ventilation, to large solar photovoltaic roof systems coupled with a Tesla battery system.

The residents who moved in in January this year, received their first negative energy bill in March, meaning the excess energy their homes have generated has already been pumped back into the national grid.

Minister for Climate Change who is responsible for housing, Julie James, said: “We have doubled our money, committing a quarter of a billion pounds this financial year, so we can get on and build 20,000 new low carbon homes for rent.

“This goes beyond Welsh housing need estimates.

“We are building at scale to address the supply and demand imbalance, homelessness, the growing second homes crisis, and the climate emergency. We are building high quality homes to make a difference to people’s quality of living. And we are ensuring the decisions we make today are the right ones for our future generations.”