Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Andrea Leadsom

Thursday 14th July 2016 Commons Chamber

[Andrea Leadsom]

On the subsidies for renewables, we have made it clear that we must balance the need to keep costs down for consumers with the need of new technologies to be subsidised in order to deploy and keep their costs down. On offshore wind, we have made it clear that we see huge potential for the cost trajectory to go down. The offshore wind industry already has a target of 50% UK content, and I am certainly encouraging it to be more ambitious. That would absolutely include the use of British steel.

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

Hinkley Point is expected to be one of the largest construction projects this country has ever seen, and it will require more than 200,000 tonnes of steel. Does my hon. Friend agree that this will provide a huge opportunity for the British steel industry?

[Andrea Leadsom]

Yes, and I would expand that to include opportunities for the supply chain right across the UK. The Government are working with the industry to develop a demand model that will provide a capability and capacity picture for the UK against the demand. Part of the aim is to identify the forward requirement for the components, which will include steel. We are working closely with new nuclear developers to create that supply chain right across UK businesses.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Stephenson and Andrea Leadsom

Thursday 7th January 2016 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Stephenson (Pendle) (Con)]

8. What steps she has taken to support the anaerobic digestion and biogas sector.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)]

First, may I say how delighted I am to see my hon. Friend fully recovered and back in his place?

We support AD and biogas through the feed-in tariff scheme, the renewables obligation and the renewable heat incentive. The Government have provided £124 million of support under the renewables obligation, £53 million under the renewable heat incentive, and enough support under the feed-in tariff scheme to deploy 161 MW since 2010. These technologies can make a valuable contribution to our decarbonisation targets and we will continue to support them.

[Andrew Stephenson]

I thank my hon. Friend for her kind remarks. I recently met Salterforth resident Peter King, along with representatives of Kirk Environmental, at my Earby advice surgery to discuss anaerobic digestion and biogas. Does my hon. Friend agree that, compared with wind or solar, biogas has significant benefits in delivering predictable and consistent amounts of renewable energy into the network?

[Andrea Leadsom]

Indeed. There are real benefits for the UK in having a wide range of renewable energy sources, but my hon. Friend is right to point out that as the sector develops in the UK, biogas technologies could bring additional benefits, including providing baseload energy, injection into the gas grid and potential use as transport biofuels.