Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have with local authorities regarding implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Answered by Lord Henley
The UK is firmly committed to the Paris Agreement and to our emissions reduction efforts under it. We are really pleased that many local authorities and their Mayors are already taking significant steps to implement the Paris Agreement, with over 30 signed up to international cities agreements like the Global Covenant of Mayors and London playing a leading role in the C40 cities movement. We are working closely with partner organisations like UK100 and APSE Energy to engage at official and political levels of local government.
We announced as part of the Clean Growth Strategy, our Local Energy Programme. This builds on this work and is a joint programme with local authorities, local enterprise partnerships, combined authorities and community groups to understand local aspiration and action on low carbon and on climate change. This programme also announced the creation of a local energy contact group which will provide regular advice and input from these groups on departmental policy.
We chair the national subcommittee for growth on sustainability which includes as members local authorities and oversees the funding through European Regional Development Funding for low carbon.
We also work closely with Local Authorities on adapting to the impacts of climate change. The Local Adaptation Advisory Panel, which includes local authority representatives from city and county councils, is a forum for discussion on climate change adaptation between central government and local government.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 15 February (HL5165), what are the greenhouse gas emissions targets, broken down by local authority; and what assessment they have made of progress against each of those targets over the last seven years.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Local Authorities are not mandated to have greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets. However, many cities and places have set their own targets following the Paris Agreement. Over 30 places are members of international agreements such as the Covenant of Mayors and, within the UK, over 70 places have now signed up to UK100 with a political commitment to use 100% clean energy by 2050.
The Government has recently announced support for every Local Enterprise Partnership to develop their own energy strategy and we are developing plans to support local places to build the capacity to deliver more local low carbon projects across England over the next two years.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have contractually guaranteed a minimum level of energy production from the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station that consumers or the National Grid will buy in 2030, even if that energy is not needed due to the growth of renewable energy and home energy storage; and, if so, what that level is.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has not contractually agreed a minimum level of energy production from the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. The Contract for Difference (CfD), agreed on October 2016, is an agreement to pay the generator the difference between the wholesale market price and a “strike price” for every megawatt hour of electricity they generate. It is the generator’s responsibility to sell their power in the wholesale market.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether consumers and households who do not use grid electricity will have to pay for any of the electricity produced by Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
No, consumers and households who do not use grid electricity will not pay for any of the electricity produced by Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have contractually guaranteed a minimum level of subsidy to Hinkley Point C nuclear power station for providing back-up energy capacity; and, if so, (1) what that level is, and (2) whether this will be funded by taxes or by users through their energy bills.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government has not contractually agreed a minimum level of subsidy to Hinkley Point C nuclear power station for providing back up energy capacity. System balancing decisions are for the system operator, who may choose to contract with HPC in the 2020s as with any other system user, but no such contracts are currently in place.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
Her Majesty's Government whether they have held any meetings with representatives of Cuadrilla in 2017; and if so, which minister or ministers met with those representatives, when those meetings took place, what was discussed, and whether any assurances were given to that company.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
All Government Ministers meet regularly with industry leaders, including those from the energy industry. A register of meetings is published on a quarterly basis as part of Departments’ transparency data.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the delay in completion of the Moorside nuclear power station project arising from uncertainties about the role of Toshiba.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Project planning and scheduling is primarily a matter for the developer. The Government maintains regular dialogue with NuGen over the progress of their proposals for Moorside; we are not aware of any changes to the developer’s timetable as a result of Toshiba’s position.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many local jobs they anticipate the Moorside nuclear power station creating during (1) the construction phase, and (2) operation.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
NuGen – developer of the proposed project at Moorside - anticipates that construction will create between 14,000 – 21,000 jobs over the lifetime of the project. In addition, NuGen estimates that the plant will support 1,000 jobs during operation.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the strike price for the Moorside nuclear power station under the Contracts for Difference regime.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
It would be inappropriate for the Government to disclose any estimate of a strike price ahead of formal negotiations. Discussions with the developer, NuGen, on a possible contract are at a very preliminary stage.
Asked by: Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb (Green Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the levelised cost of energy per megawatt hour for the Moorside nuclear power station.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
It would be inappropriate for Government to disclose any estimate of levelised cost ahead of formal negotiations. Discussions with the developer, NuGen, on a possible contract are at a very preliminary stage.