Heathrow Airport Closure: Resilience and Security
Debate between Lord Mackinlay of Richborough and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath(5 days, 9 hours ago)
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, my understanding is that, in Heathrow’s view, the supply was insufficient to ensure safe and secure operation. Therefore, it proceeded to reconfigure its internal electricity network to enable the resumption of full operations, utilising the other two external supply points. This required hundreds of systems to be safely powered down and then safely powered up, with extensive testing. The Kelly review will analyse all the relevant material concerning the robustness and execution of Heathrow’s crisis management plans and the airport’s response. The review that my right honourable friend the Secretary of State has commissioned from Ofgem will be looking at the issues of energy, the power outage and what lessons we have learned. We will have discussions with Heathrow to make sure that the terms of reference give us a comprehensive picture.
Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Con)
My Lords, it has become apparent over the last couple of days that Heathrow had submitted evidence to the environment committee of the House of Commons regarding the overrating of power requirements in that area, saying it felt that the net-zero pathway was not helping that. We are adding EV charging and heat pump requirements to the network on a daily basis, but not really doing the proper jigsaw puzzles to make this work. Ultimately, the responsibility has to be with Heathrow Airport for not having a back-up supply. I note that data centres in that area, which are hugely energy hungry, have back-up, and they never go out of power.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, I am sure those are things that need to be looked at and reviewed by Heathrow, and more generally in relation to the grid and network connections, which I think is part of the question the noble Lord raised. We recognise that, in moving to clean power, we need to strengthen both the grid and the network locally. We will be looking at these matters. We have had reports from the National Infrastructure Commission recently. NESO’s work and advice have led to the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, which sets out proposals on how we are going to reform the grid and expand it to meet some of those issues.
Licensed Oil and Gas Fields: Emissions
Debate between Lord Mackinlay of Richborough and Lord Hunt of Kings Heath(2 weeks, 6 days ago)
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Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, in relation to the North Sea, the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning has an important role to play in the work that is undertaken on oil and gas. Of course, we have wider environmental law. Defra has a role to play. The Department for Transport—obviously, in relation to the tragic incident that has taken place—also has a role to play. On the point the noble Baroness raised, there has to be a cross-government approach to protecting biodiversity and the health of our seas. My department certainly plays its part in that.
Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Con)
My Lords, I declare that I will become the director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation from next month. Have the Government assessed the amount of lost investment, lost jobs, lost tax revenue and lost balance of payments costs in the unwelcome approach that we take to new gas and oil in the UK? We are simply substituting supply with that of our foreign competitors, notably Norway, Qatar and the US. Into the future, that could be domestic.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Lab)
My Lords, as an avid reader of the Daily Telegraph, I was of course well aware of the noble Lord’s appointment. I heartily congratulate him on it and welcome him to our debates on energy. However, he is wrong. The best way to proceed is the way we are doing, by ensuring that we grow home-produced, clean-power energy. This is the best way to grow the economy. As for investment in the North Sea, the very fact that we are producing a consultation on environmental impact assessment and last week produced our consultation in relation to our policy of issuing no more licences gives clarity to the industry in which investment can continue to take place.