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Energy Bill

My Lords, I apologise for interrupting the Minister, but it is important to draw attention to a point made by the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, in his introduction. Both he and I have attended meetings with overseas investors who are willing at this moment to invest this way. What the Government are doing is quite serious; they are putting their own technological judgment ahead of that of the industry. It is also worth mentioning that a little confusion may have come into the debate, because we are talking about two quite different sets of geothermal activity in the same breath. My noble friend Lord Walton was referring to ground-source heat pumps, which involve shallow holes. It is currently just about economical to put them into new-build domestic houses. The technology for that exists and is improving. The noble Lord, Lord Teverson, was referring to a much deeper geothermal resource, which offers the possibility of bringing up hot water either for district heating systems or, ideally, for power generation. There are two quite distinct elements here.