Long Duration Electricity Storage Systems Debate
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Julie Minns
Main Page: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)Department Debates - View all Julie Minns's debates with the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero
Long Duration Electricity Storage Systems
Julie Minns Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Mr MacDonald
I think that hydro is a far better source of electricity than wind. It has much less visual impact and it is available when we really need it; we have quite a lot of wind, but it is obviously dependent on the wind blowing.
The future energy scenarios report of the National Energy System Operator, or NESO, for 2025 suggested that Britain could need between 13.2 GW and 16.6 GW of long duration storage by 2050. The six sites in the highlands that I have mentioned will go a long way towards providing that storage.
The second point I wish to make is about the implication for the electricity market and the people paying their bills. One aspect of this is the way that the wholesale electricity market works. Excuse me for stating the obvious, but gas still sets the price for electricity when gas-fired generation is needed, even at a time when a great deal of electricity is coming from renewable sources.
Mains gas is 8p a kilowatt at the moment, whereas electricity is 26p a kilowatt, or more than three times as much. Broadly speaking, people in rural areas across the whole of the UK do not have mains gas. In my patch, only those people in Inverness city and Dingwall receive mains gas.
Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)
The hon. Gentleman makes a valid point about his constituents who are off-gas; likewise, I have a number of constituents in my Carlisle constituency who are off-gas. Recently the committee of a village hall—Hallbankgate village hall—came to talk to me about their ambition to move off the heating oil system and instal solar, but storing the energy—the heat—in a sand battery. I do not know whether he has come across that before, but does he agree that whatever the scale or technology—be it pump or small sand batteries—the Government’s long-term storage strategy needs to be technology-neutral, so that we maximise as many of these different technologies as possible?
Mr MacDonald
Until I received the hon. Lady’s email yesterday, I had never heard of sand batteries; sand is not one of the big features of my constituency. Nevertheless, I agree that we should consider all sorts of technologies. The bottom line is that Britain will not transition to electricity when it costs three times as much as carbon fuel imported gas does.