My Lords, Amendment 66 provides the Government with the power to close the renewables obligation to new capacity. As noble Lords know, this closure is planned for 31 March 2017 as part of the transition to contracts for difference. We had previously considered that the renewables obligation could be closed using existing powers within the Electricity Act 1989. However, we have now concluded that a specific power in this Bill will put the closure arrangements on a more reliable and transparent legislative basis.
To ensure that consumers and industry have confidence that closure will take place consistently across the UK, the amendment provides the power for the Secretary of State to close the RO in England, Scotland and Wales. It enables the Northern Ireland Executive to make similar provision for the Northern Ireland renewables obligation. To give industry early certainty on the way in which the Government propose to use this power, we intend to publish this week detailed proposals on RO grace periods for those projects that are delayed due to circumstances beyond their control. These proposals will include a 12-month grace period for projects subject to current investment decisions, giving developers making such decisions this winter substantial reassurance that their investments are not at undue risk from the RO closure date.
Amendments 70 and 107 to 109 support Amendment 66 by making consequential drafting changes. Amendment 110 ensures that the power on RO closure will come into force immediately upon Royal Assent. This allows the secondary legislation for the RO closure to be brought forward quickly, which is important for investor certainty.
In response to the very helpful points made in Committee by my noble friend Lord Stephen and by the noble Baroness, Lady Worthington, the Government have brought forward Amendments 67 to 69 to clarify the scope of the powers for the fixed-price certificate scheme. Amendment 67 removes the power for regular reviews of support levels under the fixed-price scheme. The Government have no plans to change these support levels as, in a closed and grandfathered scheme, we are unlikely to need to do so. It is therefore appropriate to remove the provision for regular reviews, which implied that we expected to make such changes. However, it is also appropriate to retain a mechanism to change support rates if unexpected developments were to make that essential. I assure noble Lords that the conditions that must be satisfied for a review to take place will be specified in secondary legislation, and subject to statutory consultation and affirmative resolution by Parliament.
Amendment 68 places a requirement on the Secretary of State to exercise certain powers under the fixed-price certificate scheme in a manner which replicates the renewables obligation. This requirement confirms the existing purpose of the clause, in response to concerns raised by the renewables industry and by my noble friend in Committee. The fixed-price scheme will respect our grandfathering policy and will reflect the RO, which has always been our intention. Amendment 69 ensures that the duties on the Secretary of State in relation to the strategy and policy statement do not apply to the fixed-price certificate scheme in Northern Ireland. I hope that noble Lords have found this a helpful explanation of the amendments, and I beg to move.
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