Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Huhne and Dominic Raab

Thursday 24th March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Huhne]

The carbon price floor is designed to encourage low-carbon sources of energy and it is not in any way designed to attract particular support for one low-carbon source or another. One could equally argue that it is benefiting renewables. That is why it will lead to the switching effect that we find desirable, so that we rely more on low carbon than on high carbon. In addition, the hon. Gentleman will note that the Treasury is considering the impact on existing operators and will keep that under review.

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

This week, the former UK chief scientific adviser Sir David King has said that the real lesson from Japan was that

“nuclear power is even safer than we thought…by far the safest method of power generation”.

Will the Secretary of State be mindful of that advice and does he agree with that assessment?

[Chris Huhne]

I am mindful of it. That is an interesting argument which has been made in many quarters. It is absolutely crucial, comparing the debate in this country with those in other countries such as Germany, that we should base it on the facts and the evidence. That is precisely why I asked Dr Mike Weightman to produce a report—so that we can have a sensible and measured debate based on the facts and the evidence.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Chris Huhne and Dominic Raab

Thursday 16th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con)]

1. What plans he has for the future of existing tariffs and subsidies in relation to renewable technologies and other sources of clean energy.

[The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)]

We are committed to achieving our 2020 renewable energy target, which is a European Union legislative goal. The coalition programme for government commits us to the establishment of a full feed-in-tariff, with the aim of securing a significant increase in investment in renewables while maintaining a banded renewables obligation and not changing the ground rules for existing investments. We are also strongly committed to action on renewable heat.

[Mr Raab]

The last Government’s impact assessment on feed-in tariffs showed that domestic solar power is nine times as expensive as industrial turbines and hydro plants in producing clean energy. That means that poorer families must pay billions in their energy bills to subsidise those who can afford solar panels. How will the Secretary of State eliminate such distortions in the market for clean energy, so that we can sustain public confidence and so that our environmental policy makes wider economic sense?

[Chris Huhne]

Renewables are currently more expensive than fossil fuels, and, as the hon. Gentleman points out, there is a wide variation in the costs of different sources of energy. One of the things the Department must deal with is the enormous uncertainty about the development of costs in future. For example, the cost of onshore wind generation has fallen, and according to calculations that we obtained recently from our Mott MacDonald study, it is competitive with the cost of nuclear generation. As for photovoltaics—a subject that concerns the hon. Gentleman—it is true that ours is not a very sunny country and that Arizona produces about twice the yield that can be obtained anywhere in the United Kingdom, but the costs are falling by roughly 6% a year. We have to make a judgment about the uncertainties in the long run.