Energy: Electricity Generation

Lord Ezra Excerpts

Tuesday 26th February 2013 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Ezra]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they consider that there will be adequate reserves of electricity-generating capacity after the expected closures of a number of coal and nuclear plants.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Baroness Verma)]

My Lords, I begin by wishing my noble friend a very happy 94th birthday, which I know he celebrated a couple of days ago. The Government are taking decisive steps to secure our supplies. We are reforming the electricity market to drive the investment we need to ensure that we have a diverse range of energy supplies, and through the Green Deal and ECO, we are looking to reduce our usage of energy. I am also pleased to announce that we have had investment from Carrington gas, which will come on stream in 2016, and Hitachi’s investment of £700 million in purchasing Horizon demonstrates that the Government’s approach is right, and that the UK remains an attractive place to invest.

[Lord Ezra]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for her kind remarks. In spite of advancing years, I continue to take a keen interest in energy matters. Does the Minister agree that, while in the medium and long term, shale gas, new nuclear and other installations may help to meet increased electricity demands, there is a serious short-term problem, to which she referred? In that connection, will she indicate what steps the Government will take, in addition to those that she mentioned, to avoid a possible shortage of electricity-generating capacity within the next two to three years, bearing in mind the early closure of existing coal and some nuclear plants, and the warning from Ofgem that, as a result, reserve electricity capacity will fall well below normal levels?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the Government are taking action to ensure that the UK economy continues to enjoy high levels of electricity supply security in the short, medium and long term. Our proposals for electricity market reform will drive investment, ensuring that we have a diverse mix of energy sources. Those proposals also include legislating for a capacity market to ensure that we have sufficiently reliable capacity on the system in the long term. The legislation, which will come to your Lordships’ House for consideration shortly, will enable a capacity market. With regard to the short term, we expect to see some reduction in margins as we move towards the middle of the decade; we saw similar reductions in the previous decade.