UK Parliament / Open data

Energy Bill

Proceeding contribution from Lord Stephen (Liberal Democrat) in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 30 July 2013. It occurred during Debate on bills and Committee proceeding on Energy Bill.

We have touched on a very interesting area but we can all agree that a strategy is a very good thing here. Even the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, thought that a strategy was a good idea. Sometimes in government you have to be bold and ambitious in setting strategy and, sometimes, in setting targets. I take the point made by the noble Baroness about the importance of outcomes and not micromanaging. If the noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, had been given John F Kennedy’s speech about sending a man to the moon by the end of the decade, he would probably have set it to one side and declined to go for it. Sometimes we have to be ambitious and we are dealing with very important change that needs to be driven by government. None of the major changes we are seeing in energy infrastructure in the United Kingdom and many other developed nations would be happening without huge intervention and commitment from government.

In many aspects, the Energy Bill will deliver exactly the sort of change we are all hoping for but not in relation to storage where much more needs to be done. The noble Lord, Lord O’Neill, was exactly right that when these big targets for renewable energy were first set storage was seen as a vital issue if they were to be introduced. They can also be achieved through a mixed basket of renewable energies, not all of which are intermittent in the way that wind and solar energy are. Storage is not rocket science; it is not so uncharted. We are aware of the technologies right here and now: the issue is how to deploy them sensibly. It is not all about balancing the network: it is about focusing some energy storage on renewable energies. I was interested to hear about the proposal for an individual turbine having its own internal storage capability. When we are building, as we have done, the biggest wind farm in Europe, there should be consideration of some sort of energy storage alongside such a huge investment. We have a lot more to do and I am excited at the prospect. I am ambitious for all of this and genuinely believe that we can do it. With the right commitment, support and focus, we can make this happen. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

About this proceeding contribution

Reference

747 c665GC 

Session

2013-14

Chamber / Committee

House of Lords Grand Committee
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