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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 63: 63: Before Clause 80, insert the following new Clause— ““Electricity from hydro-microgeneration (1) The Secretary of State shall, within one year of the passing of this Act, make regulations with the purpose of encouraging renewable energy generation by means of hydro-microgeneration. (2) In this section— ““hydro-microgeneration”” means the generation of electricity by means of a hydro-turbine of less than 100kW capacity; ““microgeneration plant”” has the same meaning as in section 7(6) of the Climate Change and Sustainable Act 2006 (c. 19). (3) Regulations under this section may prescribe— (a) the treatment of hydro-microgeneration under sections 32 to 32M of the Electricity Act 1989 (c. 29); (b) licensing for the use of water in a water-course for the purpose of hydro-microgeneration; (c) that any requirements for abstraction, transfer or impoundment licences under the— (i) Water Resources Act 1991 (c. 57), (ii) Environment Act 1995 (c. 25), or (iii) Water Act 2003 (c. 37), is repealed in respect of a hydro-microgeneration plant, provided that no water is removed from the watercourse in the process of generation; (d) that any requirement to ensure the safety and welfare of fish in a watercourse on which a hydro-microgeneration plant is situated is proportional to the risk of detriment to the safety and welfare of fish. (4) Any reference to the generation of electricity under this or any other Act which applies to hydro-microgeneration shall apply as though the reference were to the generation of electricity by means of any hydro-turbine of less than 100kW capacity. (5) Regulations under this section shall not be made unless a draft of the statutory instrument containing them has been laid before, and approved by a resolution of, each House of Parliament.”” The noble Lord said: Microgeneration is an issue I feel particularly strongly about, as is the removal of barriers to the use of micro-hydro-generation, which have caused many problems for those looking into it. One is the definition of microgeneration being at 50 kilowatts. Many micro-hydro-generation plants operate above 50 kilowatts; a 100-kilowatt level would be much more realistic. The great benefit of hydrogenation is that it is not as variable as wind. Indeed, the water runs a watercourse and there is no drop in power output, making it a useful form of microgeneration. Of course, you will not get the same level of power, because watercourse microgeneration is limited by the flow of water. I have tramped up and down hillsides in Northumberland looking at different rivers to see exactly what could be generated from the water flow. You need quite a large, steady flow from a river to make micro-hydro-generation realistic. However, the use of water in power generation is one of the oldest forms in this country. The water-wheel is symbolic. The Mill on the Floss showed that the power of such things can be quite lethal. However, our problem is not just based on the 50-kilowatt limit for microgeneration, which limits the power output, but also that redirecting the water from a watercourse, through a mill and back into the river is counted as water extraction. Even though the water returns to the same river, and you could be rebuilding a mill that has done it for hundreds of years, that is seen as breaking the Water Resources Act 1991, the Environment Act 1995 and the Water Act 2003. This is an unintended consequence of that legislation. I know that the Minister will say that the limit on microgeneration is being reviewed, and I very much hope that he will indicate that a limit of at least 100 kilowatts will be looked at in the case of hydro-micro-generation. If the Minister is minded to oppose the amendment, will he say at what stage there will be an opportunity to change the legislation with regard to water being taken from a watercourse and fed back into a watercourse? This would be a perfect opportunity to do so, because it is to do with the generation of power and it is easy enough to amend these Acts at this point. However, if he then says that we should look at another piece of legislation, all the people who run these forms of generation at the moment will have to wait even longer to bring them online. That would be extremely unfortunate, because the carbon saving of these devices is particularly worthy of note. Their reliability is not in doubt, unless of course there is a drought and a drop in water pressure. One would hope that that was only a temporary affair, although as the whole Bill is about reducing carbon dioxide and the effects of climate change, it might have to be taken into account. This is a very small measure that would have a major impact on a large number of schemes around the country that want to make use of such a natural resource. I beg to move.