Moved by
Lord Teverson
51J: After Clause 136, insert the following new Clause—
“Part 6A
Geothermal energy
Licensing system
(1) Within eighteen months of this Act coming into force, the Secretary of State shall, after a period of consultation with industry, geological experts, the devolved administrations, local authorities, energy producers and other interested parties, put into place for the United Kingdom a licensing system and supporting regulations for the exploitation of heat from deep geothermal sources for both direct use and for the generation of electricity.
(2) The licences shall relate to—
(a) individual, geographically delineated areas of land; and
(b) the heat held by rocks greater than 500 metres below the local surface level.
(3) The licences shall confer exclusive exploration and production rights for the purpose of energy production to the licensee for that area, for a specific period of time for both direct heat and electricity generation.
(4) The Secretary of State shall put in place regulations governing the allocation of licences and the conduct of holders of licences.
(5) The Secretary of State shall undertake the first round of allocations within six months of the licensing system being put in place.
(6) Any organisation already in possession of—
(a) a water abstraction licence for the purpose of developing deep geothermal energy resources;
(b) planning permission for the development of deep geothermal energy resources,
at the time the licensing regime comes into force, shall be entitled to preferential bidding rights to that licence area and any licence fee or other consideration for that licence area as a part of the licensing regime will then be determined by arbitration under rules determined by the Secretary of State reflecting the fees or other consideration paid for licences deemed to have similar potential.
(7) The holding of a licence for the exploration or exploitation (or both) of deep geothermal heat shall not convey any automatic rights to planning permission for surface development or surface access.”