Examination of Witnesses (Questions 232
- 239)
WEDNESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2005
MALCOLM WICKS
MP, MS BRONWEN
NORTHMORE, MR
BRIAN MORRIS
AND DR
GEORGE MARSH
Q232 Chairman: Good morning everyone.
Thank you very much indeed for coming this morning. Thanks to
the members of the public who have joined us for our last oral
session in our inquiry into carbon capture and storage. We are
delighted, Minister, that you are able to join us. Minister, when
the Government published its terms of reference for the Energy
Review on 29 November there was widespread speculation at that
time that the Government's preferred option was nuclear in meeting
the four key goals which you outlined at that time. Ever since
then you and the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser have been
on a charm offensive to try to persuade all and sundry that carbon
capture and storage is really at the head of the agenda. Could
you say in 2015 that carbon capture and storage will be in place
and certainly in a demonstrable facility in the UK and that the
Government will have supported it?
Malcolm Wicks: Chairman, it is
good to be here. In an hour and a half's time we will see whether
the charm offensive has worked or failed. The point about the
Energy Review is that it is very wide ranging. It is looking at
demand, it is looking at supply and it is looking at where we
will get our energy sources from in the 21st Century and the strategic
choices our country needs to make. Within that we will be looking
at the potentiality of a range of different technologies ranging
from micro wind turbines through to the nuclear power stations—and
all options are open—and we are very interested in carbon
capture and storage.
Q233 Chairman: Minister, with due
respect, that really is an answer to satisfy everybody. We want
to know whether CCS is at the head of your agenda in terms of
dealing with the Government's objectives for 2020 and indeed 2050
in terms of a reduction of carbon in our environment.
Malcolm Wicks: I was just setting
the context because when it comes to energy everyone has a favourite
technology.
Q234 Chairman: What is yours?
Malcolm Wicks: Only the foolish
person would have one favourite technology. In order to meet the
energy supply requirements and the fundamental challenge of climate
change we will need a range of instruments and within that context
we are very, very interested in carbon capture and storage; we
are investing in it. I personally think it has enormous potential.
At the moment—and I think this might be a theme throughout
this discussion when one is asked a range of rather detailed questions—it
seems to me that where we are globally on this is probably half-way
into chapter one of this book. I think it has enormous potential
in terms of our climate change agenda. I would very much hope
that into the next decade we would have seen a major demonstration
project, the most likely one is the Miller field BP project and
after that I would hope there would be other fundamental developments,
but it is too early to be entirely confident about that.
Q235 Chairman: So you are saying
you are not confident as the Minister for Energy that we will
have a proper large scale demonstration plant available in 2015
not only to see if the technology works on a large scale but it
is also a technology that would be exportable.
Malcolm Wicks: It needs to be
remembered, Chairman, that where we are globally on this is that
although we have several items of good practice, if I can put
it like that, not least in Norway but also in the United States,
we are, I repeat, at a very, very early stage in this. I would
hope that by 2015 we would have a demonstration project up and
running. The most likely contender in the UK is the BP Miller
field project with Scottish and Southern. That would be my hope
and aspiration.
Q236 Chairman: Is the fact that Joan
MacNaughton is being replaced as the Director General of Energy
at the DTI an indication that pronuclear views are no longer the
flavour of the month within your Department?
Malcolm Wicks: Chairman, you would
like to talk about nuclear, yes?
Q237 Chairman: No. I want to know
where your priority is as far as the Government is concerned.
We have had no indication as to where the priority is.
Malcolm Wicks: You want to address
the nuclear question. That is why you have mentioned Ms MacNaughton.
Q238 Chairman: I am asking you whether
the fact that she is being removed from her post or leaving her
post is an indication that carbon capture is in fact going to
be the main driver in terms of driving down CO2 emissions over
the next 15 years and certainly meeting the Government's target
for 2050 of a 60% reduction.
Malcolm Wicks: Joan MacNaughton's
future move is no indication of anything about the direction of
energy policy. After four years in the post it is not unusual
for people to move on and to be reshuffled. One newspaper said
it was an indication that she was anti nuclear and another one
said the move was an indication that she was pronuclear!
Q239 Chairman: What do you think?
Malcolm Wicks: The truth is what
I have said to you earlier.
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