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Energy Bill

My Lords, I do not have the details but I shall be happy to write to the noble Lord about that. The important announcement concerned the money. I do not know how far the initiative has developed, but I shall find out and let him know. Of course, there is great potential in this area and we all have high expectations. However, while in principle we agree with supporting biomethane, we do not believe that supporting its use in the gas transmission system should be achieved through an amendment to the renewables obligation. Electricity from biogas is already supported in various forms under the renewables obligation, and some forms, such as landfill gas, have made significant contributions to the growth in renewable electricity generation over the past few years. Proposals in the Bill will help us to make further progress with the use of biogas for electricity generation. Our new banding proposals mean that electricity generated directly from the gas formed by the anaerobic digestion of wastes such as manures and waste food will receive two renewables obligation certificates for each megawatt of electricity generated. I think that we are all agreed about the benefits of such a measure, but the proposed new clause would mean that, if renewable biomethane gas was fed into the gas grid, an equivalent amount of gas used by a specified consumer could be treated as renewable for the purposes of the renewables obligation, even if supplied to a fossil-fuel gas-fired station. Such a move would risk widening the definition of a renewable source of electricity while breaking the direct link of award of ROCs to actual generation. That is the fundamental principle of the RO system, which is important for investor confidence in renewable electricity generation projects. As noble Lords will know, two-thirds of the gas supplied through the grid is used for heat and not for electricity generation, so most of the biogas injected into the grid would be used for heating purposes and could be an important source of renewable heat. Here comes the constructive point. An alternative to supporting biogas through the renewables obligation would be to support it through any financial mechanism to support renewable heat. We are already reflecting further on how we could bring forward a financial mechanism for renewable heat, with the aim of returning to the issue at Third Reading. I wonder whether the noble Lord would let me take this away to see how we might include biomethane as part of any financial support mechanism for renewable heat, rather than deal with it in the way suggested. On the technical issues, all I can say tonight is that we are continuing to work with the national grid to overcome some of the technical issues concerned with injecting biomethane into the gas transmission system. When I am in a position to update noble Lords, I will write to them on it.