EUROPEAN STRATEGIC ENERGY TECHNOLOGY PLAN
(15458/07)
Letter from the Chairman to Malcolm Wicks
MP, Minister of State for Energy, Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform
Thank you for your Explanatory Memorandum on
the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan. It was considered
by Sub-Committee B during its meeting of 21 January 2008 and was
cleared from scrutiny.
The Committee notes the concern of the Welsh
Assembly mentioned in the Explanatory Memorandum that the Strategic
Energy Plan does not emphasise wave or tidal power. The Committee
would be interested to know what steps the Government intends
to take to ensure that this concern is addressed in future legislative
proposals.
23 January 2008
Letter from Malcolm Wicks MP to the Chairman
Thank you for your letter of 23 January,
about the European Strategic Energy Technology (SET) Plan and
the Welsh Assembly Government's concerns.
I am aware that there may seem to be an important
omission in the SET Plan. However, its remit was broadly to examine
the collaborative measures, which Member States can take to ensure
that actions are taken across the EU on a strategic basis, with
an aim to addressing the EU targets set for 2020 and beyond.
In doing this, the report focused on existing
deployable technologies, e.g. biofuels, onshore and offshore wind,
photovoltaic (PV) and other solar power, nuclear fission and energy
efficiencies. Unfortunately, the technological and economical
viability of large-scale electricity generation from wave and
tidal stream sources has not yet been demonstrated by technology
developers, and so this was not emphasised.
The SET report did note, that key EU technology
challenges for the next 10 years to meet the 2050 vision,
include bringing the next generation of renewable energy technologies
to market competitiveness, developing the technologies and creating
the conditions to enable industry to commercialise them. A key
focus of this activity will, most likely, be on the marine energy
technologies, which move towards commercial viability and deployment
over the next few years. The current draft Council Conclusions
on the SET Plan note that there may be a need for further initiatives
and encourage the Commission to continue to examine areas with
great potential such as marine energy. The UK will ensure that
these technologies are fully taken account of in further work
at an EU level arising from the SET Plan.
11 March 2008
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