Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what safeguards are in place to ensure that grants from his Department are not given to renewable energy projects which have been constructed or are being operated without the required planning permission.
Answered by Claire Perry
The Department’s main support schemes for renewable energy projects are based on providing revenue support based on generated output.
The current main support schemes for renewable electricity projects are the Contracts for Difference and the Feed-in Tariff schemes.
The Contracts for Difference scheme requires applicants to demonstrate that they hold the applicable planning consents when applying for support. In addition, it is a contractual obligation for generators to continue to hold the required planning consents for the duration of the support.
Under the Feed-in Tariff scheme, the scheme’s administrator has powers to withdraw, suspend or alter an installation’s accreditation in certain scenarios, including when it has received notice from a relevant public authority that the construction or operation of the installation is in breach of any provision of legislation or of any licence or consent granted for the installation.
Installations that are or were funded under the domestic RHI, Renewable Heat Premium Payment, and certain installations under the Feed-in Tariff schemes; are unlikely to require planning permission due to their scale.
The Government intends that all new Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) applicants have all necessary planning permissions in place before they are supported by the scheme. The Government has recently laid regulations in parliament to introduce this requirement.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support the use of (a) home battery storage and (b) other storage technologies.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Our Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan supports the deployment of storage on our energy system by removing policy and regulatory barriers, opening markets and committing £70 million of innovation funding for smart systems, including storage. This innovation funding is on top of the £246 million Faraday Battery Challenge to help the UK become a world leader in the research, development and manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles.
Specifically, on home battery storage, we are putting enabling measures in place such as smart meters and measures to encourage smart tariffs (which allow consumers to benefit from cheap energy when demand is low). These measures form part of the Smart Meters Bill.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2017 to Question 1697, what provisions and safeguards he has made to ensure that where a disused shale gas well needs decommissioning or maintenance and the company responsible is insolvent that the costs incurred do not fall to the taxpayer either locally or nationally.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The regulatory framework has provisions in place to ensure wells can be decommissioned with no need for on-going attention.
As part of the petroleum licensing process, and prior to awarding a licence, the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) assesses whether a company has adequate financial capacity for its planned operations. The OGA also checks at the drilling and, where relevant, production stage that the company has sufficient funding and appropriate insurance.
From the outset a shale gas operator is required to design and construct an oil and gas well with a view to its safe decommissioning. HSE specialist inspectors scrutinise these plans to ensure the well can be abandoned safely.
At the end of the life of a well, The Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc.) Regulations 1996 requires all oil and gas wells to be abandoned in such a way that there can be no escape of fluids from the well or from the reservoir associated with it, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to further improve competition in the domestic gas industry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Progress has been made in recent years to improve competition in the domestic retail gas with households now having a choice of around 55 companies supplying gas. Smaller suppliers are continuing to grow their market share and now have just over 18% of the domestic retail gas market.
We have reduced by half the time it takes to switch suppliers and are working with Ofgem to move to even faster and more reliable switching. Ofgem are working on developing better ways to engage consumers and on 3 July announced trials to help customers on expensive standard tariffs find and switch to cheaper energy deals.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will require shale gas exploration companies to (a) take out insurance, (b) enter into a bond or (c) take other steps to ensure that they are liable for any future costs associated with maintaining exhausted or abandoned shale gas wells.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The central aim of the regulatory framework is to ensure wells are made safe so that they can be decommissioned with no need for on-going attention.
Each shale gas licensee (and there may be more than one for each licence) is responsible for the well. When operations finish, the licensees are responsible for safe decommissioning of the well(s) and for restoring the well-site to its previous state or a suitable condition for re-use.
The operator is required to design and construct an oil and gas well with a view to its safe decommissioning. The operator is also required to provide a notification to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prior to decommissioning and abandonment of the well. The notification and subsequent weekly operations reports, submitted by the operator, allow HSE inspectors to scrutinise the activity to ensure that the well is being decommissioned and abandoned as required by the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction, etc.) Regulations 1996. This requires all oil and gas wells to be abandoned in such a way that there can be no escape of fluids from the well or from the reservoir associated with it, so far as is reasonably practicable.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that future maintenance liabilities for abandoned or exhausted shale gas wells remain the responsibility of the operator of that well.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Each licensee (and there may be more than one for each licence) is responsible for the well. When operations finish, the licensees are responsible for safe decommissioning of the well(s) and for restoring the well-site to its previous state or a suitable condition for re-use.
The central aim of the regulatory framework is to ensure wells are made safe so that they can be decommissioned with no need for on-going attention. The Health and Safety Executive scrutinises the plans for the well at the outset, including the plans for decommissioning and the operator reports to them during the decommissioning process.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what maintenance and inspection procedures he plans to put in place to protect underground water supplies from damage as a result of shale gas extraction.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Under section 50 of the Infrastructure Act 2015, hydraulic fracture consent will not be issued unless the my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State is satisfied thirteen conditions are met. This includes an assessment of environmental impacts, independent well inspections, and groundwater monitoring.
Under the Onshore Hydraulic Fracturing (Protected Areas) Regulations 2016, hydraulic fracturing is prohibited in “protected groundwater source areas” (SPZ1s), which are areas close to drinking water sources where there is the greatest risk associated with groundwater contamination.
The environmental regulator (the Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, or Natural Resources Wales) has the power to require baseline monitoring of those environmental indicators it considers appropriate and for the lengths of time that it deems suitable for each given site. This may include monitoring of soil, air, surface water and groundwater for a range of pollutants. The regulator assesses this based on the characteristics of each site, applying the regulator’s own expert judgment rather than adopting a blanket approach.
The environmental regulator will not permit the use of hazardous substances, as defined by the Water Framework Directive and the Groundwater Directive, for any activity including hydraulic fracturing where these substances might enter groundwater and cause pollution.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive are adequately resourced to monitor permitted shale gas operations.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency have sufficient specialist inspectors to deliver the regulatory regime they are responsible for. The resources required will be kept under review.
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to bring into force the provisions of the Easter Act 1928 to fix the date of Easter from 2018 onwards.
Answered by Margot James
At present, Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon following the spring equinox. The Easter Act 1928, which remains on the Statute Book, would set the date for Easter to fall on the Sunday that follows the second Saturday in April (i.e. between 9 and 15 April). The Act has not been brought into force. To do so would require an Order in Council, with the approval of both Houses of Parliament. The Act also requires that, before the Order is made, “regard shall be had to any opinion officially expressed by any Church or other Christian Body."
Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the merits of encouraging the development of tidal lagoons to provide energy; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is considering the recommendations in the Hendry Review and the issues which arise from a broader programme. Government will require a period of time to assess the merits of such a programme and determine what is in the best interest of the UK energy consumer and taxpayer in the long term, and will publish its response to the Hendry Review in due course.