National Grid: Capacity

Lord Wigley Excerpts

Monday 11th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

The noble Baroness asks, on the surface of it, a perfectly straightforward question, to which I would love to be able to give an equally straightforward answer. The most I can say is that following the long-awaited but much-welcomed energy White Paper, an energy Bill will be introduced as soon as parliamentary time allows. The measures will intend to realise the ambitions and policy commitments set out in the White Paper, as well as to drive forward the transition to net zero.

[Lord Wigley (PC) [V]]

Will the Minister confirm that the Government are standing by their earlier commitment—of central relevance to these issues—namely, to locate the proposed national thermal hydraulics facility in Anglesey?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

The noble Lord is absolutely correct; the commitment to build the national thermal hydraulics facility was made when we launched the nuclear sector deal in November 2018. It remains the Government’s ambition to do so. The issues recently identified, which have resulted in conversations about this, relate to the need of the Rolls-Royce-led UK SMR consortium to have a slightly larger facility delivered sooner than had been proposed in Ynys Môn. The UK and Welsh Governments are in discussion about how to resolve the planning and timing issues quickly, and they may be able to start the construction of just the facility needed for the Rolls-Royce machine before they proceed with the rest of the site.