MORE than 10,000 new and existing homes could generate the energy they need in a project being considered by leaders in Swansea.

Cabinet members will be asked to approve the homes as power stations project at a virtual meeting on May 7.

The aim is to build 3,300 such properties in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire – and retrofit a further 7,000 – over a five-year period.

They would include things like solar panels, battery storage, heat pumps and thick insulation.

It is one of 11 city deal projects being taken forward by the Swansea Bay City Region.

All four councils and the city deal’s ruling body will need to approve it, as well as the Welsh and UK Governments, which are expected to contribute £15 million.

Pilot council housing projects with high environmental credentials are under way or planned in the four authority areas, including 59 new properties in Birchgrove, Portmead and Clase in Swansea; 16 houses and flats in Wenham Place, Neath; and a 32-home development at Glanmor Terrace, Burry Port.

Wales has some of the oldest and least energy-efficient homes in Europe, said the homes as power stations business case going before cabinet.

“The overarching aim of the programme and business plan is to prove the homes as power stations concept within public-sector led developments in terms of both new-build and retrofitting existing properties,” it said.

“This experience and knowledge will be used to inform future public sector developments across the South West Wales region, and indeed across Wales, and, having proved the concept to target its use in private sector developments.”

The business case added: “It needs to be noted that the project will not develop a stand-alone private sector house building programme: it will encourage the private sector to adopt the concept for planned developments.”

The value of the scheme has been put at £505 million, with the private sector’s input estimated at £376 million and the four councils shouldering most of the remainder.

It is expected to create lots of jobs and a new supply chain, tackle fuel poverty, address a housing shortage, and decrease carbon emissions.

The report added that people who live in warmer and better designed houses and flats tend to be healthier.

But there are project risks, such as inadequate technology, high costs, procurement delays and a lack of interest from the private sector because of the extra costs involved.

The project business case said  3,692 to 3,950 new houses per year were required in the Swansea Bay city region, but the current completion rate was only 1,321 per year.