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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 38A: 38A: Clause 37, page 33, line 28, at end insert— ““( ) about the exploitation of heat from deep geothermal sources for both the direct use of that heat and for the generation of electricity.”” The noble Lord said: Perhaps I may ask the Committee’s indulgence. I should like to de-group Amendment No. 63B. I would like to return to it later as it is a particularly substantial amendment. I really should have asked for it to be de-grouped earlier. Amendment No. 38A is a probing amendment to bring to the attention of the Minister and the Government the potential for deep geothermal energy in parts of the United Kingdom, and to ensure that it is included in the future ROC regime, even though it is not currently used for heat and electricity generation. There has been substantial research on deep geothermal energy by the original Department of Energy. Regrettably, this area of research has fallen back in the United Kingdom, but is very strong in Germany, the United States and, particularly, Australia, where conditions are not as good as in parts of the United Kingdom, particularly the south-west where development, in particular exploration, is currently taking place. In Amendment No. 63B, I will be looking for a regime where we might exploit that. The point of this amendment is to ensure that this important potential source of energy generation, either though heat or particularly through electricity, is not excluded from the renewable obligation regime. Indeed, it should be favourably included within the banding regime, given its distant position from a market technology. In the United States the technology is being looked at very strongly in terms of energy security. In Australia it is being developed on an extensive scale. In terms of surface technology, it already exists very successfully where there is volcanic activity, particularly in areas such as New Zealand and Hawaii where there are volcanic hot springs. This surface-level technology is proven and works. I believe that it is an important technology for the future. I would like to understand where the Government see it potentially fitting into the renewable obligations scheme. I beg to move.