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Energy: National Policy Statements

I am grateful to the Minister for allowing me to speak in the gap. Very briefly, I wanted to move to some of the central points where the noble Baroness, Lady Young of Old Scone, said there was a bit of flabbiness in this document, or words to that effect. On page 16 it says that, to meet our EU targets, wind will be required but also increasingly biomass and waste. Only last week, as I am sure the Minister will be aware, the chief executive of Drax power station, which is the biggest processor of biomass, said that the biomass plant was going to be closed down because it is so hopelessly uneconomical. I know it is a little bit unfair, but could the Minister say something about how that is going to be replaced and whether there is a future for biomass, given the chief executive’s comments? Secondly, the paper goes on to recognise the need for fossil fuel emergency backup. It says in paragraph 3.3.9: ""It could still be necessary to use fossil fuel power stations … for short periods of time when renewable output is too low to meet demand"." My understanding is—and I would like the Minister to correct me if I am wrong—that you cannot switch fossil fuel power stations on and off whenever you want them. In order to run them economically, you have to run them full-time. My noble friend Lord Reay referred to the vast costs of wind power. Not only is fossil fuel power hugely expensive but it provides no savings in carbon emissions whatsoever. Finally, the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, referred to the massive cost of carbon capture and storage. On page 43, the Government refer to the four pilot plants that they are subsidising—or demonstration plants. Could the Minister say where they are, what stage they have reached and when they will produce any measurable results, so that we can judge whether carbon capture and storage is a starter or whether it is simply too expensive?