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Energy: National Policy Statements

My Lords, I must apologise for being slightly late. Business always collapses in an annoying fashion when you have a gin and tonic in the Peers’ Guest Room. One of the things that slowed me down on my way was the large number of great tomes that have come out, which I find rather bizarre. The statement seems to have two purposes: the first is to print a large number of documents that we have to read in great haste, and the second, of course, is to give the go-ahead to the nuclear sites. Much of the statement is about nuclear new-build, and the Government are keen to give the go-ahead to the 10 new sites. These documents had to be published to meet the legal requirement before the sites can be approved but, from the tone of the statement, you would not put your money on being an opponent of any of those sites being built. It gives the impression that any opposition will be completely pointless. I am not a BANANA—that is a great expression that I heard recently, Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone—but we will need to look at a mixed bag. Of course we on these Benches do not believe that nuclear is the option. I have two questions, which I have raised on numerous occasions. I am speaking on the Front Bench because my noble friend Lord Teverson could not be here today, but in my former capacity I usually made this point, and now I have the opportunity to make it again: nowhere does the document mention where geological storage of the waste has been considered, and that problem does not seem to have been addressed. The second important issue is that, although the sites have been approved, we still have no indication of what type of reactor we are looking at. It would be interesting if a planning decision were being taken without the type of reactor that was to be approved having been settled on. Other aspects of the policy statements are to be welcomed. There are obvious implications for climate change from the use of coal, but we have long argued that the implementation of carbon capture and storage is vital and so we welcome the statements. However, as the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, pointed out, carbon capture and storage is still on the drawing board. I noted with interest use of the expression "carbon capture ready" rather than "it will be in place before build". When a new energy Bill comes forward, will the Government look at the rather unfortunate implication of the Crown Estate having a legal obligation to make as much money as possible out of the sea bed? It will add considerably to the cost of any carbon capture and storage, and it seems rather strange that the Government should be giving with one hand and taking with the other. Much energy is being spent on nuclear, but the thin document on networks infrastructure is not as comprehensive as it could be. Infrastructure needs to be addressed far more closely, because it seems to fall outside the remit of many of the White Papers that have gone forward. There is a real issue here: most infrastructure is more than 30 years old and will need to be replaced. Do the Government have a figure for the replacement of the high-level line infrastructure? The document on renewable energy, although I was speed-reading it, looks extremely good and will be helpful, although it seems that the size that a wind farm needs to be to fall within the remit is great, especially for onshore wind. That would be particularly unfortunate. I am a great advocate of wind turbines. Some are soon to be built very close to me and I am rather looking forward to it, which makes me unusual, it seems—in this House, anyway. The level at which the policy kicks in is extremely high. Among the other renewables in the document, there seems to be a glaring omission. Although the burning of biomass and incineration are mentioned, anaerobic digestion is not. I must declare a pecuniary interest: I am the chairman of the Anaerobic Digestion and Biogas Association, a worthy body—under the new rules, one is allowed to speak about one’s interest if it has a wider context, which this does. Anaerobic digestion is, we believe, capable of producing 20 per cent of our domestic gas. If 1,000 plants are built, which most of the experts believe is possible, it would account for a build of £5 billion, most of it coming from the private sector, and deal with energy security. It is unfortunate that it has been left out of the document. Why are the Government not focusing a great deal more on this important subject?