My Lords, I am extremely grateful to the right reverend Prelate and the noble Baroness for their contributions. The right reverend Prelate raised the wider issue of daylight peak capacity of solar. One has to look at this as a whole, and solar has to be part of the energy mix. We recognise that solar is a successful part of our energy mix. We do not want to see it drop out of the mix, given that we want to increase our usage of renewables as opposed to traditional fuels. While solar may have a downside, in that when there is no sunlight there is no solar production, we should not—I was going to say “excommunicate” but I think that is the wrong word—remove it from the mix simply because it is not a 24-hour supply. As I say, it plays a very important part in the energy mix.
With regard to the noble Baroness’s comments, we have to recognise that past mistakes enable us to learn lessons. However, we should celebrate the fact that solar has become a successful part of our energy mix and we are seeing costs come down. We are working closely with the solar industry to ensure that we do not impose great difficulties in this area, but at the same time we need to respond to the costs that will be imposed on the consumer. As with all these things, compromises need to be made and these are hard balancing acts to achieve. However, the noble Baroness is absolutely right that we should constantly review our responses to technologies that were new but are now maturing and are very much part of our framework.
However, the bigger issue is that we need to have greater consistency in what we mean by energy policy because our energy policy needs to instil confidence. Investors need to know that politically there will be no dramatic changes, so it is very important that we work towards a long-term consensus on what we want to deliver. It is true that over the past four years or so we have seen record amounts of investment coming to the
UK renewables sector. We should celebrate the fact that investors want to invest and generate jobs in the long term, and that they view the UK as a good place to invest. However, that needs to be viewed against the backdrop of ensuring that the political landscape aligns itself with not uprooting very sensible policies when they are put in place, and we have a role to play in that. Overall, though, the fact that the noble Baroness has acknowledged that this is a good thing to do and that the right reverend Prelate by and large recognises—