Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by BBC Panorama that Drax power station is burning wood from forests defined by the government of British Columbia as "old growth" primary forests which provide unique habitats, structures and ecological functions.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government continues to engage with the Canadian Authorities to discuss interactions between sustainable sourcing requirements and old growth areas, such as raised in the BBC report mentioned. Electricity generators only receive subsidies for the electricity they generate from biomass that has demonstrated compliance with stringent sustainability criteria, and the regulator, Ofgem, is responsible for ensuring compliance with these criteria.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Callanan on 3 July (HL Deb col 984) on the use of Biomass at the Drax Power Station, on the basis of what evidence officials advised that “the Panorama Programme provided an inaccurate representation of practices by the forestry and business sector on the ground”, as set out in a briefing note obtained through a Freedom of Information request and published on 12 October.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to him on 18 September to Question UIN HL9759.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the annual ‘limited assurance’ report commissioned by Drax provides an adequate and appropriate level of assurance with respect to the accuracy of its sustainability data.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government has made no such assessment. Generating stations, including Drax, must provide an annual independent sustainability audit report to Ofgem, not to Government, to verify the information it reports each month. Ofgem may conduct a compliance investigation to establish whether a generator is in breach of its sustainability reporting requirements relating to the Renewables Obligations scheme if there is reason to suspect non-compliance.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the estimated full unit cost of (1) energy produced from various carbon fuels utilising carbon capture and storage, and (2) energy produced by various renewable means.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government regularly publishes its view of the levelised cost of generating a unit of electricity from various technologies, including renewables and gas-fired power generation with CCUS, in the Electricity generation costs report which was updated in 2023.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 27 July (HL9538), in what ways was the Panorama on Drax (1) accurate, and (2) inaccurate, in its representation of practices by the forestry and biomass sector.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
After speaking to Canadian experts and reviewing various sources of information about forestry and harvesting in Canada and British Columbia, officials advised that the Panorama programme presented a useful overview of forestry and biomass practices. They advise that the narrative would have benefited from a fuller picture about how harvesting decisions are made in practice, more detail on the operation of the harvest licensing regime, more clarity on how the grading system is used for wood products and biomass materials, and clearer evidence supporting claims about the use of wood pellets in the UK.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 18 July (HL9062), what was the factual basis behind his answer on 3 July (HL Deb col 984) that the BBC Panorama programme on Drax "provided an inaccurate representation of practices by the forestry and biomass sector".
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Officials engaged extensively with the Government of British Columbia and Canadian forestry experts. They reviewed information from these sources and elsewhere about timber sales operations, timber harvests, forest stewardship, and the harvest system in place in British Columbia to assess the relevance of the claims.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with OFGEM regarding the time taken to launch its investigation into allegations, first aired by BBC Panorama in October 2022, that Drax Power Limited was in breach of the Renewables Obligation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government engages regularly with Ofgem, as they are the Renewable Obligations Scheme’s scheme administrator. Ofgem has assured us that this matter is a priority for them and they are progressing the investigation at pace.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Callanan on 3 July (HL Deb col 984) which stated that the BBC Panorama programme on Drax misrepresented the practices of the forestry and biomass sector, whether they will publish the assessment undertaken by officials of the programme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government does not intend to publish the assessment which was conducted internally by the Department.
Ofgem is investigating whether Drax Power Limited is in breach of annual profiling reporting requirements relating to the Renewables Obligation Scheme and other related matters. The opening of this investigation does not imply that Ofgem has made any findings about possible non-compliance by Drax Power Limited.
Asked by: Lord Birt (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to ensure that the cost of using electricity to heat homes and buildings will fall below the cost of using hydrocarbons.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government understands that green, lower-carbon products are more efficient and cheaper to run. However, current distortions in electricity and gas prices do not always make this the case. We want to make it easier for consumers to make the switch to green products, such as heat pumps, by ‘rebalancing’ prices between electricity and gas to remove these distortions.
In ‘Powering Up Britain’, the Government accepted the recommendation from the Independent Review of Net Zero that Government should commit to outlining a clear approach to gas and electricity price rebalancing by the end of 2023/24 and should make significant progress affecting relative prices by the end of 2024.
The Department will provide further information in the coming year.