Philip Hollobone
Main Page: Philip Hollobone (Conservative - Kettering)(13 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
3. What estimate he has made of the level of (a) onshore and (b) offshore wind generating capacity in 2020.
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)
Modelling undertaken for the Department in 2009 suggested that the UK could have about 14 GW of onshore wind and 13 GW of offshore wind generating capacity in 2020.
The Government do not set targets for individual technologies; we take a market-based approach to energy generation. The actual amount of capacity that comes forward, and the timing, will depend on a range of factors, including how the market responds to the incentives that we have put in place.
Mr Hollobone
My constituency has at Burton Latimer a successful wind farm that is soon to expand, but my constituents would like to see greater incentives from the coalition Government to encourage offshore wind energy, and rather reduced incentives for onshore wind farms, because we do not want the English countryside despoiled by hundreds of wind farms all over the place.
Charles Hendry
My hon. Friend makes an important point, with which a significant number of colleagues in the House agree. There was a democratic deficit in the way the policy was driven forward in the past, and we want to move on from the hectoring approach that the previous Administration took. There do need to be appropriate incentives; wind farms should be put in place in the appropriate locations; and a banding review of the ROC—renewables obligation certificate—regime is coming forward this year, when we can look at those issues.
Gregory Barker
My hon. Friend can rightly be proud of the Adnams facility in her constituency, and she is particularly well placed to understand its potential as she has a PhD in chemistry. I would be happy to meet her to discuss how we can make it easier for more companies to connect, because we are talking about a very important technology.
Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
T1. If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)
Since the previous departmental Question Time we have published proposals to increase liabilities for nuclear operators under the Paris and Brussels conventions. We have also opened a consultation on the long-term management options for the UK’s civil plutonium stocks, and launched a review of the feed-in tariff scheme to ensure that we have investment certainty at reasonable budgetary cost.
Mr Hollobone
Britain’s electricity system is at its most vulnerable during winter cold snaps when the wind is not blowing and the wind turbines are not moving round. What steps is the Secretary of State taking to ensure that the plant capacity margin is big enough to ensure that we can keep the lights on with power from conventional sources during those periods?
Chris Huhne
My hon. Friend is right to highlight that as an important and ongoing issue, and it is one to which we have devoted a lot of attention in the Department. In the short term, the key is that the capacity margin has increased quite comfortably—sadly for the wrong reasons: because of the impact of the recession—but in the long run we are trying to ensure that we pay for capacity through electricity market reforms. That is in the consultation documents that we have tabled, and I believe that it will provide a long-term solution and ensure that we have an adequate margin.