My Lords, this amendment and the next concern the Electricity Act 1989. I have not yet read it all but I have not once come across the word “decarbonisation” in it. It shows how we have moved forwards—or backwards, depending on how one looks at it—over the years.
Amendment 106 relates to a decision made only a few weeks ago concerning Viking Energy, which was looking to obtain a consent under Section 36 of the 1989 Act for a wind farm in Shetland. There was a judicial review of that decision, which was upheld by the Outer House of the Court of Session. That has done something that this Energy Bill is trying to prevent —that is, it has increased uncertainty for investors—and changed completely the view within Scotland of what is needed to obtain a Section 36 consent for a major
power project over 50 megawatts. The judgment laid down that the people who were applying needed a generating licence before they could obtain that consent. That is not always the case and I suggest that it should not necessarily be the case.
These schemes tend to be joint ventures involving generating companies that already have licences—in this case, Scottish and Southern Energy was one of the major shareholders of Viking—which try to obtain their Section 36 permission for the generating station to go ahead; it could be wind power or any form of power. But clearly there has to be a licence to operate before the project can go ahead and generate electricity, so there is no question about the organisation that gets the consent being competent and being able to move forward. Indeed, given the amount of investment that is required for these projects over 50 megawatts—in this case, one-third of a gigawatt—clearly there would be no financial backing if the organisations were not seen as competent.
The decision north of the border has introduced a great deal of uncertainty into the system and made the progress towards investment in power generation far more difficult. It has also put into question those Section 36 consents that perhaps have already been granted at a time when the operator did not have a licence. I would be very interested to hear how my noble friend the Minister sees the status of those past consents now that this court ruling has taken place.
I understand that the Scottish Government have appealed against that decision to the Inner House of the Court of Session, and that the appeal will take place in February and March. Once again, that causes a hiatus in investment. It means that there is great uncertainty over future investment in power in what is a particularly important part of the UK for renewables. Therefore, I have tabled this amendment in order to bring clarity and ensure that the way in which this system was always thought to operate is reinstated. I should add that within England and Wales this is not an issue, as I understand it, because there has been consequent legislation, either primary or secondary since the Electricity Act 1989. South of the border, the position is quite clear. I beg to move.
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