Lord Foulkes of Cumnock
Main Page: Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour - Life peer)(11 years, 10 months ago)
Lords ChamberI thank the noble Baroness and your Lordships’ House for their very warm welcome. The energy Bill will seek powers to implement a capacity market as part of the reforms to the electricity market to deliver secure, affordable, low-carbon electricity. We expect that pumped-storage hydro projects would be eligible to receive capacity payments under the capacity market. Further detail will be set out alongside the introduction of the energy Bill in autumn.
Has the noble Baroness had an opportunity to visit Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland to discuss with them how we can co-operate in this important area, particularly Scotland which is a third of the land area of the United Kingdom? If she has not yet had the opportunity to make such a visit, may I encourage her to do so? I know that she will be made very welcome indeed.
I thank the noble Lord for his invitation to go to Scotland. I have not yet had time to visit it but I very much take on board the importance of hydro energy in Scotland.