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UK Government's Energy Policy

Let me return to that point. The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has said that there will be a review of feed-in tariff regimes over 50 kW. A 50 kW regime is a very small regime. It will not generate—produce energy—for more than one, two or three potential properties. As the Secretary of State said in his statement of 7 February, he is concerned about the potential development of large-scale wind farm-type developments to develop solar energy. Such large-scale facilities could suck in all the resource, killing off the golden egg of generation through feed-in tariffs. To date, there has been only one planning application anywhere in the country for such a regime and it is not off the ground yet, but that was a threat that the Minister took seriously. My plea to the Ministers today is to look at this in a Welsh context, because we can certainly stop widespread, large-scale solar panel farms by all means, if that is an issue that the Minister is concerned about. The point that I raise with the Minister—it will be shared by my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham, in relation to his constituency—is that Kingspan finds itself in a position whereby it has taken out an investment and, based on the announcement made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Neath, made it in potential jobs in the area. It has created employment and is developing the skills for that employment, but it suddenly finds the market cut from beneath it. Uncertainty has been put into that market and the market over 50 kW has effectively been killed until such time as the review is complete. I am not trying to make political points out of this; I want to ensure that the Ministers raise these issues with their colleagues in the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and of course in the consultation. Our difficulty is that Kingspan—which has put money in place to invest and has people working on those issues, who are, like Sharp’s factory in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham, producing photovoltaic cells—finds itself faced with no feed-in tariff proposals after August and the potential for a review, which could kill the market completely because of the proposals made by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. I say that not because David Hanson, the Member of Parliament for Delyn, knows about those issues in detail—I do not. I say it because Kingspan, a company in my constituency, has raised those concerns with me. Let me read to the Committee a letter dated 15 February 2011, sent to me by Gilbert McCarthy, managing director of Kingspan, and copied to the Minister at DECC: ““A number of ‘made in good faith’ investments in community and retail projects, manufacturing capacity and job creation are now at risk”” because of that decision. He says that the review of feed-in tariffs for solar PV systems above 50 kW is causing concern: ““Kingspan has accelerated the roll-out of modular photovoltaic systems fixed onto our insulated roof panels following introduction of the Feed in Tariff last year. These systems provide the unique benefit of a high performance insulated building envelope to reduce energy demand coupled with a highly efficient PV system to provide renewable energy to minimise carbon emissions and save energy costs.”” We are at the cutting edge of that technology in north Wales. We have firms—Kingspan, and in Wrexham—that are at the cutting edge. Indeed, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when 300 jobs were created earlier this year, with an effect on my constituency and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Wrexham, praised the fact that the job creation came about due to the existence of the feed-in tariff. We now find that that certainty has gone. Let me put that into context for the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire, who has raised the issue. The current regime, which is above 50 kW and which the Government are reviewing, relates to schemes being produced by Kingspan in Holywell, creating jobs now. Let me give examples: a 121 kW new build at the Holt Wellbeing Centre, the Isle of Sheppey academy at 98 kW, Kent university at 200 kW, Great Harwood Tesco at 100 kW, Quantum business park at 173 kW, Henley college at 80 kW and Home Farm primary school at 61 kW. They are all schemes of above 50 kW that are being undertaken by Kingspan, but the like of which can no longer be commissioned because the 50 kW cap has been put on, pending review. These are not, by any stretch of the imagination, widespread, massive farms the like of which the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has said he is concerned about. Great Harwood Tesco, a new-build project with 100 kW of regeneration on its roof, is creating jobs in north Wales, providing energy efficiency in Lancashire, and producing sales and tariff that can generate electricity. However, that type of scheme could go to the wall because of the decision made by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. Mark Shorrock is the chief executive of an organisation called Low Carbon Solar. I do not know how he votes, what he does or what he is like, but this is what he said: ““In pulling back on a commitment to support solar energy, the Government will cause the abandonment of scores of ‘Big Society’ community-owned schemes and hundreds of other developments that could have seen individual parishes benefit from up to £25,000 every year and more local jobs created… The ill-conceived and dangerously short-sighted proposals will have further unintended consequences, including the Government missing a European target of generating 30% of electricity from renewables by 2020, and therefore incurring significant fines.”” Gilbert McCarthy, managing director of Kingspan, wrote to the Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker), on 15 February about the matter: ““I am writing to advise you of our profound dismay at Chris Huhne’s statement on Monday 7 February concerning the fast track review… I would also like to request a meeting””, which I hope the Minister, the hon. Member for Clwyd West, will help to facilitate. He continued: ““As a low carbon business, we pay particular attention to the policy framework impacting on our products and monitor Government statements closely. We were therefore acutely aware of DECC’s legitimate concern… over large ground-mounted systems… but astonished to see the fast-track review extended to very modest roof-mounted systems of 50kW for which there was no warning. A number of ‘made in good faith’ investments… are now at risk.”” I do not want to take up much of the Committee’s time, but I hope that the Minister will reflect strongly on what I have said. This is about future jobs in north Wales, and I would like to receive some clear indications from him in his winding-up speech. I hope he listens to and reads what I have said and what businesses are saying about wealth generation. I also hope he will go on record today to value the solar-voltaic industry in north Wales. I hope that he will stand up—privately, I accept, outside the room—to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and press him to ensure that, whatever he does in response to the review, he does not end the potential for 50 kW to 500 kW schemes. They will deal with big supermarkets, big schools, academies and universities, but are not going to be solar-voltaic wind farm-type schemes, as elsewhere in the UK. I hope that the Minister will raise those issues with DECC; report back to Members, including me, on his discussions; and, when the consultation comes out shortly, ensure that there is a Welsh dimension, because these are the jobs of tomorrow. I am not trying to make political capital out of the current procedure, even though I could. I am simply making the case that, if we go ahead as planned, he and the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change will destroy jobs for the future in north Wales. I hope that the strength of my feeling is clear to the Minister and that in his response—and, more importantly, in his discussions outside the Committee—he will take those matters on board. It is one thing for Conservative Ministers and Liberals to come to Kingspan in Holywell and praise it, as they have done during elections and at other times, but quite another for them to undermine its business when they are in power.