Here are the climate-related sections of speeches by MPs during the Commons debate Electricity Market Reform.
Full text: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2011-07-12/debates/11071255000001/ElectricityMarketReform
16:21 The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne)
With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on reform of the electricity market. Since privatisation in 1990, our electricity market has served us well, delivering reliable, affordable electricity, but in the years ahead we face unprecedented challenges, which the existing market was not designed to meet. Over the next decade, around a quarter of our existing power stations will close, threatening the security of our electricity supplies. Some £110 billion of investment is needed to replace those plants and to upgrade the grid. That is twice the rate of investment of the last decade and the equivalent of 20 new power stations. At the same time, demand for electricity could double over the next 40 years as the population increases and as we increasingly turn to electricity for heat and transport. We also face ambitious carbon emissions and renewable energy targets as we seek to build a cleaner energy future for Britain and for the world. To achieve our goals, we need to take decisive action now to increase low-carbon electricity generation, including nuclear and renewable energy as well as carbon capture and storage.
Thirdly, we will introduce an emissions performance standard to send a clear regulatory signal about the amount of carbon that new fossil-fuel power stations can emit. This will reinforce the requirement that no new coal-fired power stations are built without carbon capture and storage, while ensuring that vital investment in gas can take place. Carbon capture and storage is a key part of our plan to decarbonise electricity generation. It is the only technology that can potentially reduce emissions from fossil fuel-fired power stations by as much as 90%.
Together, the reforms will tackle the immense challenges facing the electricity market. They will put in place the framework to deliver the capacity and demand-side response that we need to guarantee future security of supply. They will encourage investment in proven low-carbon generation technologies, and will give investors confidence that there will be a market for electricity generated with commercial carbon capture and storage—confidence that will drive investment in both demonstration and commercial CCS plants.
Alongside the electricity market reforms, I am also publishing today the renewables road map. For too long, discussion about renewable energy has focused on barriers. Now, for the first time, we have set out a detailed, step-by-step plan to overcome those obstacles. The road map sets out a comprehensive action plan to accelerate the UK’s deployment and use of renewable energy. It puts us on the path to increase our renewable energy consumption fourfold by 2020 while driving down the cost over time. Growth on that kind of scale will be challenging, but necessary.
I am also publishing today the final report of the Ofgem review. The review reaffirms the Government’s commitment to a strong, independent regulator, able to give confidence to investors, protect consumers and help meet our energy and climate targets. The summary of conclusions was published in May; the final report provides further detail on how the Government will seek to strengthen the regulatory framework.
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16:30 Meg Hillier (Labour)
The Secretary of State should be congratulated on standing up to the fuzzier elements of his party with his U-turn on nuclear, which he no longer happily describes as a “failed technology” but says is an essential part of the UK's getting off the “oil hook”. The Government’s eventual acceptance of the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change in its fourth carbon budget was largely welcomed by most people, even if his colleague the Business Secretary was described as “squirming in his seat like a schoolboy” at the Cabinet meeting which discussed it.
However, the Government have failed to deliver on many fronts since the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change took office. Recent ill-judged Government intervention in the energy market has already led to a hiatus in energy investment and uncertainty across all sectors. The solar feed-in tariffs fiasco destabilised the solar sector and sent shockwaves through other renewable sectors. Companies, including RWE, are considering pulling out of the UK because of the uncertainty caused by the Government in the investment landscape. That was underlined by the Pew Environment Group’s report, which showed that the UK dropped from fifth to 13th in a global ranking of countries for green investment. We have seen a green investment bank failing to deliver the necessary investment now and being criticised by the CBI director general, John Cridland, who warned that the bank
In the White Paper, we have a mixed bag of measures. There is an emissions performance standard—a policy that the Energy and Climate Change Committee considers, at the level set,
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Mr Charles Walker (Broxbourne) (Con)
Carbon charging is a tax on jobs. Why are we retarding economic recovery by introducing what is in essence a carbon tax on business and job creation?
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Mr Iain Wright (Hartlepool) (Lab)
The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), who is on the Treasury Bench, has been kind enough to visit Hartlepool and has seen for himself the huge potential in new nuclear and offshore wind. The statement was good on the analysis of problems, but not so good on providing solutions. What practical, tangible support will the Secretary of State provide to ensure that Hartlepool can realise its vision as the European leader in energy?
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Barry Gardiner (Labour)
Four million families heading for fuel poverty does not constitute affordability; a £200 billion shortfall in infrastructure does not constitute security of supply; and a new dash for gas does not constitute low carbon. The Secretary of State knows, as the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry) certainly does, that vertical integration in the big six is the biggest single problem. Why did the Secretary of State not address that in his statement, and when will he do so to break up the monopoly of the big six?
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17:00 Chris Huhne
The ministerial team are committed to bringing on CCS, which will provide a place in the long term for coal to continue to meet our energy needs. The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, my hon. Friend the Member for Wealden (Charles Hendry), who has responsibility for energy, is meeting representatives from the coal industry tomorrow to discuss precisely this matter.
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17:01 Chris Huhne
I can assure the hon. Gentleman that coal is an important part of our energy mix now and going forward, which is why we have found £1 billion in the comprehensive spending review to fund CCS. Indeed, there has been a substantial increase in deep-mine coal over the past year.
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Jo Swinson (East Dunbartonshire) (LD)
Feed-in tariffs are proving effective in encouraging people to generate their own renewable energy. Will the Secretary of State look at how they could also be used to encourage the use of negawatts—that is, energy saved—to give people an additional cash incentive to ensure that their homes are warm and snug, and well insulated, so that they do not waste energy?
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