Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Nick Harvey

Thursday 18th December 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

Let me give the hon. Gentleman a Christmas present—I will ask for his report to be put in my Christmas Red Box.

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

T2. My right hon. Friend will be aware that the marine energy sector has recently had bad news with the proposed sale of Marine Current Turbines by Siemens and Pelamis going into administration. In the light of fierce competition from France, which has signed partnership agreements to develop two schemes off the Brittany coast, what is he going to do keep the UK at the forefront of this, and will he promote opportunities such as those off Lynton and Lynmouth as a way of doing so?

[Mr Davey]

My hon. Friend is right to say that we have had some disappointing announcements on Marine Current Turbines and Pelamis, which is unsettling for those companies and the families involved. However, there has been some good news: as I said to the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen), MeyGen is the world’s first tidal array project, and I think that the Lynton and Lynmouth demonstration zones will be able to take forward further tidal arrays. The fact that we are looking very intensively into tidal lagoon power is a real shot in the arm for the tidal industry.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Nick Harvey

Thursday 16th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I think the hon. Gentleman is referring to the statement by the chairman of INEOS, who claims he has made this particular arrangement. Clearly, we do not know the details of the contract, but I would be very interested to know them. I challenge INEOS: if it wants to sell cheap electricity to the UK, we would be very happy for it to come on to our markets. However, I do not think that this is a case of comparing apples with apples, as I am sure the hon. Gentleman is well aware.

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

The offshore wind industry has seen some significant setbacks of late. What is the Government’s strategy now—are they effectively writing it off and looking to other renewable technologies to meet targets, or do they still want to exploit it, and if so, will they conduct a lessons-learned exercise?

[Mr Davey]

I can tell my hon. Friend that there is no need for a lessons-learned exercise, because the offshore wind industry is in very healthy form. Of course, one or two projects will not go ahead—that may be for geological reasons, such as the one off the north Devon coast—but that is nothing to do with our regime. Some offshore wind projects will not get contracts for difference, but that is because we are going for the best value-for-money projects.

The good news is that we have more installed offshore wind capacity in this country than in any other country. According to independent analysis, we are the best place to come and invest in offshore wind. When we announce those who have won the go-early CfDs in March, I am very confident that more offshore wind will come forward.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Nick Harvey

Thursday 28th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his question. We are working with all our EU partners to raise ambition in the EU. This Government have proposed that we should have an EU target of a 40% reduction in domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and be prepared to go up to 50% if we can get a global deal in 2015. We are leading the way in Europe on ambition.

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

My right hon. Friend will have noted that progress towards the decarbonisation goal was interrupted this week by the withdrawal of the Atlantic Array offshore wind project off the north Devon coast. Is he concerned that if that were to be followed by other decisions by utility companies to withdraw from such schemes, we could lose control of those critical national infrastructure decisions? Is he content with a situation in which the big six and foreign utilities effectively have a veto over those critical investment decisions?

[Mr Davey]

I do not see it quite as my hon. Friend does. We were initially disappointed when the decision on the Atlantic array was announced, but when we learned that it was for technical reasons and that the further analysis of the seabed that was needed would have increased the cost, we understood why it had been taken. My hon. Friend should be reassured, because the number of applications that we have received for final investment decision-enabling contracts for difference—the “go early” CFDs—has far exceeded our expectations. I believe that there will be some good news on offshore wind shortly.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Ed Davey and Nick Harvey

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I have to remind the right hon. Lady and the House that no single party—not the Labour party, the Conservative party, the Liberal Democrats or even the Green party—argued in its 2010 manifesto for a decarbonisation target for the power sector. It was this Government and me as Secretary of State who argued for such a target and got the power to set one in the Energy Bill. When it comes to targets and having the policies to meet them, this Government have done far more than the previous one. The previous Government were right to set targets in the Climate Change Act 2008, but they did not produce the policies to meet them. This Government are doing that.

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

6. What recent assessment he has made of the long-term environmental effects of Government support for large-scale biomass conversion.

Energy Policy

Debate between Ed Davey and Nick Harvey

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Davey]

I am very proud that we have arranged a consultation on electricity demand reduction. Other Governments have continually ducked the issue, but our Government will not, because this could make a major difference to the way in which our energy policy works. There could be great savings for the economy, for businesses and for consumers if we get it right. I urge the hon. Gentleman to engage in the consultation. We do not have a firm proposal, but we have a set of options on which people can comment, and if legislation is required as a result, we will legislate.

[Sir Nick Harvey (North Devon) (LD)]

I commend my right hon. Friend for his statement and for the work he is doing to tackle climate change, but may I urge him to review the encouragement that his Department is giving to the industrial-scale burning of wood to generate energy? Will he make time to read a recent report by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace entitled “Dirtier than coal? Why Government plans to subsidise burning trees are bad news for the planet”? Will he also note the way in which the Scottish Government are using the planning and subsidy regimes to protect the environment, protect existing users of wood, and ensure that help is directed at small community-scale biomass rather than industrial-scale plants?

[Mr Davey]

I shall be happy to read that report, but I have considered the issue and I have to say that I think that the conversion of coal-fired power stations to biomass will have a beneficial effect on the UK’s carbon emissions. As my hon. Friend will know, a consultation is taking place on sustainability criteria relating to biomass energy. I believe that it will close on 30 November, and obviously we will respond to it.