Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent estimate she has made of the cost to the National Grid of the London Power Tunnels project; and how much of that cost is related to (a) civil engineering, (b) electrical engineering and (c) equipment.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
National Grid has said that the overall cost of the project is around £1bn and while it is always difficult to breakdown costs simply into different engineering elements, they have estimated the following:
Tunnels and associated mechanical and electrical work 50%
High voltage cable procurement, installation and testing 15%
Substation works (including civil ground works at these locations) 26%
Land and required permissions 9%
Ofgem is responsible for regulating National Grid, to ensure that the work they do represents value for money for consumers.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the London Power Tunnels Project is (a) on schedule for completion in 2018 and (b) within budget.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
National Grid has said that:
The London Power Tunnels Project is on schedule for completion in 2018 with all significant work completed in 2017 a year ahead of the original programme.
The London Power Tunnels Project is currently within budget.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the total gross expenditure on the London Power Tunnels Project is to date.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
National Grid has said that as of 1 May 2016 total gross expenditure on the programme of works on the London Power Tunnels Project is approximately £780m.
Ofgem is responsible for regulating National Grid to ensure that the work they do represents value for money for consumers.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to promote the development of biomass technologies.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Support is provided for biomass under a range of renewable financial incentives: the Renewables Obligation (RO), Feed in Tariff (FIT), Contracts for Difference (CfD) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). The RO closed to co-firing and conversions last year and any future support will be via CfD.
The government announced it will hold three auctions for Contracts for Difference of up to £730 million this Parliament. Details of the future CFD allocation rounds will be published in due course.
The Government confirmed increased funding for the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme in November 2015 as part of the Spending Review, with the annual budget rising from £430m in 2015/16 to £1.15bn in 2020/21.
The Government has successfully supported innovation in biomass technologies such as through the Energy Technology Institute, the Research Councils, Innovate UK and in partnership with other European Countries through the Bioenergy Sustaining the Future (BESTF) network.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies on green energy of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The UK is already playing its part in delivering the Paris climate deal, through its contribution to meeting EU climate and energy targets and through its domestic climate framework set out in the Climate Change Act. In addition, the Government believes we need to take the step of enshrining the global goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions into UK law. As a first step, our independent advisors, the Committee on Climate Change, are looking at the implications of the Paris commitments. The Committee has said that it will report in the autumn, and we will consider carefully the recommendations.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to support the development of offshore wind energy generation in Scotland.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government has announced up to £730 million of CFD support for offshore wind and other less established technologies. The first auction which we intend to hold later this year will offer £290 million of support and we would expect developers of Scottish projects to bid into that auction.
This is a huge opportunity, so I have been encouraging developers and supply chain companies to make the industrialisation of the UK supply chain happen.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to increase exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
In January the Prime Minister announced a package of new measures to increase exploration for oil and gas in the North Sea. This included £20m of additional funding for seismic surveys, a £1m prize fund to maximise use of the 2015 seismic surveys and £700k funding for new 3D visualisation centre at Heriot Watt University.
This builds upon previous fiscal measures and seismic funding made by this government to ensure the UK Continental Shelf remains an attractive destination for investment - safeguarding the future of this vital national asset.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what duties officers of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary who reach 50 years of age in service are expected to perform under their contracts.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
All Civil Nuclear Constabulary police officers are required to be Authorised Firearms Officers. As such, officers undertake a number of tasks and must meet fitness and capability standards which have been set by the College of Policing regardless of age or gender.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will publish Government plans to enable officers of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary to attend incidents requiring an armed response in support of territorial police forces.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Civil Nuclear Constabulary and territorial police forces offer mutual support through individual agreements. It would not be appropriate to comment further on operational plans.
Asked by: Paul Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what measures she has put in place to compensate officers of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary if they are dismissed because of failing (a) fitness and (b) eyesight tests for reasons attributable to advancing age.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
This is a matter for the Civil Nuclear Police Authority, who are responsible for the terms and conditions of the officers they employ, as well as ensuring that the capability of officers meets the standards required to carry out their mission of protecting civil nuclear material.