Oral Answers to Questions

Claire Perry Excerpts

Thursday 10th February 2011 Commons Chamber

[Chris Huhne]

That is absolutely right; this is one of the most interesting things happening in energy markets. The last figures that I looked at were very striking, showing that the price per therm in the United States is virtually half what it is in the UK or on the continent of Europe. Any electricity market reform must obviously involve a framework that could accommodate such changes, if this turns out to be a long-run trend. For example, if gas with carbon capture and storage were a particularly attractive technology providing low-carbon electricity for our consumers, the electricity market reform would have to enable it to be produced. It is not our job to pick winners in technology, but it is our job to ensure that we have low-carbon electricity and that the market framework can deliver it.

[Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)]

T7. Farmers in my Devizes constituency really welcome the inclusion of anaerobic digestion in the overall tariff and review currently taking place. That is long overdue, and an important way of reducing emissions and cutting waste from the farming industry. However, communities living close to existing or proposed sites are expressing real concerns about the possible impacts—an increase in traffic, unpleasant odours and so forth. What can be done to reassure communities and farmers that those things can co-exist in the countryside?

[Gregory Barker]

Obviously, the Environment Agency will continue to have oversight of such matters, but the brilliance of farm-based anaerobic digestion is that it is an on-farm solution, so it should diminish the number of road journeys that need to be made. As my hon. Friend the Energy Minister said earlier, at the heart of our proposals for an ambitious roll-out of renewables is the idea of community consent. We want a bottom-up approach, in which everyone has a chance to participate and be incentivised, rather than have things imposed from the top.