Biomass Power Generation
Debate between Jackie Doyle-Price and John Hayes(11 years, 1 month ago)
Westminster HallRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Jackie Doyle-Price
Yes, the RSPB’s comments are welcome, but it really needs to join things up. As we know, a little knowledge is often a dangerous thing, and it does not take much investigation to realise that some of the fears put out by the so-called environmental lobby, once they are unpicked—
Mr Hayes
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising the issue of wood panels, as other Members have. I am determined to do right by the wood panel industry. The Government are engaged with the industry and I shall say a little more about that, but it is right that we listen to the industry, take into account its circumstances and ensure that our policy has no unintended consequences. However, as far as the other people that my hon. Friend mentioned are concerned—I sometimes describe them as bourgeois liberals, do I not?—their malevolent, malign, mischievous opinions will be isolated by this Minister.
Jackie Doyle-Price
I thank the Minister for those comments. I agree that we need to take the wood panel industry with us. I suspect that, with more understanding and dialogue, it will come with us, because the case has been made that we can supply the demand for biomass without impacting the industry’s supply unduly.
Oral Answers to Questions
Debate between Jackie Doyle-Price and John Hayes(11 years, 2 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) (Con)
Tilbury power station in my constituency has been generating power for more than 60 years. It successfully transferred from coal-fired generation to biomass to the extent that it generates more than half the UK’s supply of renewable energy. However, owing to the large combustion plant directive, it will still have to close. Is not that stark raving bonkers?
Mr Hayes
I am aware of that situation, and I know how well my hon. Friend has articulated and represented the interests of her constituents in this regard. This is, in the end, a commercial decision. RWE took the decision to use Tilbury as a test bed in October 2011 and converted the station to run on 100% biomass. Particular circumstances have affected that decision, but I will be more than happy, as I already have begun to, to discuss the matter further with my hon. Friend.