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House of Lords
Thursday, 24 March 2005.
The House met at eleven of the clock: The CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES on the Woolsack.
Prayers—Read by the Lord Bishop of Liverpool.
Wave Energy
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the action they have taken to encourage the development of wave power is commensurate with their view stated on the Department of Trade and Industry website that "wave energy has the potential to provide as much renewable energy as the wind industry".
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville): My Lords, although wave energy is not currently economic, we believe that in the longer term it has the potential for significant cost reduction. We are therefore providing support to help realise that potential.
In August last year, we announced a £50 million marine renewables deployment fund that will provide continued support to wave and tidal stream power technologies. That builds on the £20 million of support for research and development provided to the sector since 1999 and the £1.2 million provided towards the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney. Additionally, the Carbon Trust has invested more than £6 million in marine energy projects, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council has a £2.6 million SUPERGEN marine programme.
Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reply. Does he agree that of course this is not economic yet because the economies of scale needed in any energy production simply have not been reached? Furthermore, does he agree that the marine technologies of wave and tidal power are particularly desirable because of their predictability? Once the structures are in place, that power is free, unlike, for example, imported gas. In addition, they leave no legacy, such as nuclear waste, for which the country has to pick up the bill later. With those points in mind, will the Minister ensure that the regulatory system—which seems to be an impediment because receiving the consents needed for work in marine areas is a real tangle of bureaucratic red tape—is smoothed out and made much simpler?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, I am not certain that in this case there is an issue of economies of scale. The position is that the cost of wave and tidal energy is still orders of magnitude higher than any
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other at the moment. At about 15 to 20p per kilowatt hour, it is still very expensive. It is also not true to say that there is no question of legacy. There is a real question of how to decommission barrage lagoons and what impact that has on the environment. I am not aware that the regulatory system is particularly complicated. Clearly, environmental impact should be applied to this in the same way as it is to any other project in the energy field.
The Lord Bishop of Liverpool: My Lords, is the Minister aware that the large tidal range along the west coast of England and Wales provides some of the most favourable conditions in the world for the utilisation of tidal power? If all reasonable exploitable estuaries were utilised, the annual generation of electricity from tidal power plants could achieve a potential of 50 terawatt hours, equivalent to about 15 per cent, according to the DTI survey, of current UK electricity consumption.
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, I believe that that is a correct estimate but, as I said, at the moment the issue is one of cost. The cost is something like five times higher. As is clear to everyone here, in energy policy you have to satisfy questions of cost, energy security and the environment and you have to get the right mix of energy sources to achieve those three objectives.
Baroness O'Cathain: My Lords, the right reverend Prelate has said that tidal power would provide 15 per cent of our current electricity generation. If tidal power were developed to its maximum and became applicable, how much would it generate, bearing in mind that there would be increased demand for electricity generation? Would it still be 15 per cent? If so, are the Government saying that another 15 per cent would be provided by the wind industry? I have not seen those figures before.
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, the right reverend Prelate made the point that we have in this country very favourable conditions for tidal and wave generation. Having said that, I do not think that we have made any prediction about what could be achieved in terms of each energy source in this way. It clearly depends not only on favourable conditions but on the cost and development of technologies. We believe that the spread between different technologies should be decided by the marketplace and not by attempts to make Government predictions.
Lord Livsey of Talgarth: My Lords—
Viscount Tenby: My Lords, I wonder whether I could tempt the Minister in one particular area. How much attention and money is being spent on one specific area, namely the harnessing of the Severn bore?
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Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, on 13 January last year, I gave in detail the exact reasons why we did not think that we should go ahead with the Severn barrage project at the moment. I remind noble Lords that it would cost between £10 billion and £14 billion and also raises very strong environmental issues.
Lord Livsey of Talgarth: My Lords—
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean): My Lords, can we calm down? We have time for both questions. Perhaps we can take the Labour question first, then the Liberal Democrat question.
Lord Tomlinson: My Lords, I thank my noble friend for giving so much detail on the potential for tidal wave energy, even though it is uneconomic. Will he now give us something of equivalent detail on what we are doing to preserve the nuclear option for generation of electricity, should the target of 20 per cent of renewables not be achieved? It is all very well having great detail on what appears to be unattainable. Can we have parallel details on that which we will need?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, I have previously given examples of the amount of research we are doing to keep the nuclear option open. I am very happy to send that information to my noble friend if he requires it again.
Lord Livsey of Talgarth: My Lords, the research that has been done in Swansea Bay on tidal lagoons is extremely promising. The Severn Estuary has the second highest tidal race in the world. One the problems that came to the fore after a meeting that was organised by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller of Chilthorne Domer, was that there was inadequate money for the research and development that would make tidal power economic. May I suggest to the Minister that the present contribution of £50 million to the industry is inadequate, particularly when compared with that given to wind power?
Lord Sainsbury of Turville: My Lords, the Swansea Bay proposal uses older technology. It is technically feasible. There considerable disagreement about the cost of the construction and the amount of energy that it will produce. If the figures that have been produced by the promoters of the scheme are correct, there should be no problem with obtaining commercial funding for it from the market. As no innovation is involved, it is not appropriate as an R&D project.
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Armed Forces: Electoral Registration
Lord Garden asked Her Majesty's Government:
What measures they have taken to ensure that members of the Armed Forces were registered by 11 March for participation in the elections on 5 May.
Baroness Crawley: My Lords, we have been working with the Electoral Commission to raise voting awareness in the services. An information campaign began in January with the publication of a Defence Council instruction, providing full information and practical help on how to register and vote. It was backed up with leaflets, information on the MoD's website, articles in in-house publications, and support from the British Forces Broadcasting Service.
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