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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 58: 58: Before Clause 80, insert the following new Clause— ““Access for renewable energy to the electricity and gas grids (1) After section 3A of the 1989 Electricity Act (c. 29) insert— ““3B Access for renewable energy to the electricity networks (1) In carrying out their respective functions, the Secretary of State and the Authority shall ensure that— (a) transmission systems operators and distribution system operators guarantee the transmission and distribution of electricity produced from renewable energy sources and electricity produced from high efficiency co-generation, without prejudice to the maintenance of the reliability and safety of the grid; (b) transmission system operators and distribution system operators provide for priority access to the grid system for electricity produced from renewable energy sources and electricity produced from high efficiency co-generation; (c) when dispatching electricity generating installations, transmission system operators shall give priority to generating installations using renewable energy sources insofar as the security of the national electricity system permits; (d) transmission system operators and distribution system operators are required to set up and publish their standard rules relating to the bearing and sharing of costs of technical adaptations, including grid connections and grid reinforcements, which are necessary in order to integrate new producers feeding electricity produced from renewable energy sources into the interconnected grid, and that such rules— (i) shall be based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria taking particular account of all the costs and benefits associated with the connection of these producers to the grid and of the particular circumstances of producers located in peripheral regions and in regions of low population, (ii) may provide for different types of connection, and (iii) shall provide for the sharing of costs to be enforced by a mechanism based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria taking into account the benefits which initially and subsequently connected producers as well as transmission system operators and distribution system operators derive from connections; (e) transmission system operators and distribution system operators are required to provide any new producer wishing to be connected to the system with a comprehensive and detailed estimate of the costs associated with the connection; (f) the charging of transmission and distribution fees does not discriminate against electricity from renewable energy sources, including in particular electricity from renewable energy sources and electricity produced from high efficiency co-generation produced in peripheral regions, such as island regions, and in regions of low population density; (g) fees charged by transmission system operators and distribution system operators for the transmission and distribution of electricity from plants using renewable energy sources and electricity produced from high efficiency co-generation reflect realisable cost benefits resulting from the plant’s connection to the network. (2) The Secretary of State shall review and take the necessary measures to improve the frameworks and rules for bearing and sharing of costs referred to in subsection (1)(d) by 30th June 2011 at the latest, and every two years thereafter, in order to ensure the integration of new producers.”” (2) After section 4AA of the Gas Act 1986 (c. 44) insert— ““4AB Access for renewable gas to the gas networks (1) In carrying out their respective functions, the Secretary of State and the Authority shall ensure that— (a) gas network operators guarantee the transport of gas produced from renewable energy sources, without prejudice to the maintenance of the reliability and safety of the gas networks; (b) gas network operators provide for priority access to the gas networks system for gas produced from renewable energy sources; (c) when dispatching gas, network operators shall give priority to renewable energy sources insofar as the security of the national gas system permits; (d) gas network operators are required to set up and publish their standard rules relating to the bearing and sharing of costs of technical adaptations, such as gas network connections and gas network upgrades, which are necessary in order to integrate new producers feeding gas produced from renewable energy sources in to the interconnected gas networks, and that such rules— (i) shall be based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria taking particular account of all the costs and benefits associated with the connection of these producers to the gas networks and of the particular circumstances of producers located in peripheral regions and in regions of low population, (ii) may provide for different types of connection, and (iii) shall provide for the sharing of costs to be enforced by a mechanism based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria taking into account the benefits which initially and subsequently connected producers as well as gas network operators derive from the connections; (e) gas network operators are required to provide any new producer wishing to be connected to the system with a comprehensive and detailed estimate of the costs associated with the connection; (f) the charging of transport fees does not discriminate against gas from renewable energy sources, including in particular gas from renewable energy sources produced in peripheral regions, such as island regions, and in regions of low population density; and (g) fees charged by gas network operators for the transport of gas from plants using renewable energy sources reflect realisable cost benefits resulting from the plant’s connection to the network. (2) The Secretary of State shall review and take the necessary measures to improve the frameworks and rules for bearing and sharing of costs referred to in subsection (1)(d) by 30th June 2011 at the latest, and every two years thereafter, in order to ensure the integration of new producers.”””” The noble Lord said: I am particularly keen on this amendment for a number of reasons. First, it aids the Government to reach their 2020 target on renewables by producing priority access for renewable electricity and gas. Last night, we discussed biomethane at some length, so perhaps I will not go back to that in such detail. However, I have a personal issue involved in this. Like many people who have converted to the cause of saving carbon I tried to do my bit, by trying to build a 6.2 kilowatt turbine at a tourist attraction that I had. I found it incredible that building this very small turbine—a 30-foot pole with 10-foot-long blades—should be almost impossible to achieve. One would think that grants would be available and that, after putting in for planning permission, you would be able to build it very quickly. Grants were available, which I applied for, and I would have had to pay 50 per cent. Planning permission involved the Northumberland National Park taking it through the whole of the planning process plus a review by the inspector, which took months, by which time the grants had disappeared. Even though the grants had gone, I had the planning permission and I thought about going forward. But then there was the massive problem of connecting with Grid Connect. At that point, the cost became prohibitive. At the micro-level, you are dealing with monopolies which can make up charges at a whim—that is if they believe that you should be given access at all. Those of us who live on the borders in the north-east know a great deal about power cuts. I have completely given up ever reprogramming digital clocks on cookers because a couple of weeks later they will be flashing again. There are quite a few power cuts. However, I understand the difficulty that if you are feeding electricity on to the grid, there is a danger that you will electrocute those people who are sent out to mend the fault. However, after months of fruitless work on this scheme, which never got off the ground, I thought about how much is put in the way of anyone trying to introduce a scheme—even a small scheme—at this level. On microgeneration, we are talking about only 0.2 per cent of the generating capacity of this country, which is hardly surprising because the number of hoops relating to paperwork and finance one has to go through is incredible. If you then think about larger scale projects, such as CHP, wind and biomethane, the latter of which is covered in the second part of the amendment, the costs become greater and accessing the grid becomes extremely problematical. This amendment calls for the breakdown of those barriers. I have been to enough debates where we have discussed how the Government are in favour of all sorts of renewable generation. However, if you have ever tried to build such a project and connect it to the grid—and this was only a small-scale one; 6.2 kilowatts is not a large turbine—you will know that the costs are prohibitive for doing it on a multiple or community level. Renewables lend themselves to rural and more remote areas, where the carbon value of electricity is high, because to generate it centrally and pump it out is expensive. The cost of that grid access is a major issue. People are talking about bringing terawatts of power into the grid with all the wind farms in Scotland. With the interconnectors, that will cost an extremely large amount of money. However, the amendment is not a blank cheque for those who want to bring forward those sorts of bills. It is written around proposed new Section 3B(1)(d)(i), which says that it, "““shall be based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria taking particular account of all the costs and benefits associated with the connection of these producers to the grid and of the particular circumstances of producers located in peripheral regions and in regions of low population””." I hope that the Government support the amendment. It is not a free-for-all for everybody to move forward, but it makes transparent the major costs associated with this. Without that transparency and regulated costs, you can find yourself in the difficult position of coming up with a scheme, especially with CHP and anaerobic digesters, that makes every sense in the world on environmental grounds and deals with some of the waste issues in a cost-efficient manner, but is destroyed because connection to the local electricity or gas grid cannot be argued over or taken to review to ensure that the networks do not erect a barrier of obstructive costs. It is not simple to deal with costs that are not currently transparent. The proposed new section is an attempt to remove the barrier to the electricity and gas grids. I hope that the Government support it. I beg to move.