A WEST Wales AM who is one of the main voices for sustainability in the Assembly has praised the ground-breaking work of a local eco-home company in leading the fight against climate change.

Eluned Morgan, a member of the Assembly’s cross party group on sustainable energy, said the work being done by Cilgerran-based Western Solar Homes could “not be underestimated” and the company’s work was “leading the way” in how homes are built in the future.

The company this week (July 14) handed over six timber semi-detached houses to Coastal Housing at Clos yr Haul, Ammanford.

The six new homes produce their own electricity via solar panels and will help save 180,000 tones of CO2 over the next 60 years - equivalent to planting two million trees or taking 60,000 cars off the road.

The North Pembrokeshire company is setting up in partnership with TRJ in Ammanford to manufacture Ty Solar homes to meet the demand for low energy social housing in West Wales. They have plans to build up to 150 homes in the next two to three years.

The Ammanford project follows the development of four homes in Square and Compass, North Pembrokeshire, earlier this year.

Ms Morgan said: “ In my rural plan for the economy, I identified a need to build eco-friendly homes in the region. Homes that meet the needs of an ageing population and the changing way we live and work as a society.

“The impact of Tŷ Solar homes in helping Wales to meeting our climate change targets cannot be underestimated. Glen and his team are leading the way in transforming how we build the homes of the future, bringing together traditional skills and new talent to put sustainability at heart of construction.”

Western Solar Homes chief executive Glen Peters added: “Just imagine by the end of 2022 we will have helped indirectly plant 75m trees or taken 3m cars off the road – that’s the equivalent of 1,000 rugby pitches of trees and a year’s worth of cars off the road!”

Western Solar is a small innovative renewable company based in North Pembrokeshire. It pioneered its first home in 2014, the first solar powered Welsh village at Glanrhyd in 2017 and has been featured on television and national media as an example of how small companies are helping in the fight against climate change.

All Ty Solar homes are built of Welsh timber, are highly energy efficient and harness the power of the sun for both space heating and photo voltaic generated electricity. The super structures are manufactured locally in Wales and assembled on site in three days.