Examination of Witnesses (Questions 358-359)
Ms Eluned Morgan MEP
5 JUNE 2008
Chairman: First of all, thank you very
much for coming. We will introduce ourselves and I will say something
about the inquiry. This is Sub-Committee B of the European Union
Select Committee. We have been at this inquiry for three months,
that order of magnitude, into the renewable energies target, the
20% by 2020, 15% for the UK. The way in which we go about these
things, as you know, is we take evidence in writing and in person,
hence we have got a session today in Brussels. Thank you very
much for your time. We intend to report in October. The reason
for that is it has taken slightly longer than we originally thought
because there is more work to be done. We are only focusing on
wind, sun and water to meet the target, so we are not looking
at biofuel, transport, nuclear. It is quite a narrow focus but,
frankly, if we had widened the focus it probably would have taken
us three years. The Minister, Malcolm Wicks, told us last week
that the UK Government is starting a consultation exercise on
this whole topic which will last through to September, my guess
would be, and then there will be further UK considerations, and
probably informals, in the Energy Council. Yesterday, as you may
or may not know, there was a statement in Parliament by Malcolm
Wicks where he outlined significant backing for offshore wind
turbine with the co-operation of the Crown Estate obviously. I
think we all knew, given the evidence that has been offered to
us, that was where the main contribution would come to meeting
our target. We have been focusing on five key issues which will
come out in our questions. If you do not mind, we will each ask
you questions and if you either cannot answer or would prefer
to move on to the next one, please indicate. The five areas are,
first of all, the targets themselves, where do they come from,
and Lord Powell will begin with that, and there are a number of
issues that arise out of that. Secondly, by focusing on offshore
wind, which is where the Government's main concentration is, to
meet our target within that timeframe, is that sensible or is
that distorting, how is it going to be financed, et cetera. We
have been looking at your advice on the Guarantees of Origin and
Trading Renewable Production Certificates essentially. The evidence
we had this morning from Greenpeace was "Don't do that"
because it will distort the UK domestic incentives. We have, as
you know, the Renewable Obligation Certificates. The Minister
was quite interesting when he came last week and indicated that
feed-in tariffs for micro-generation might well be sensible to
look at. We have been reminding ourselves that energy efficiency
is as important as the renewable target. We have been encouraged
to look at what Spain, Germany and Denmark in particular have
achieved and how long it has taken them and why they started so
early. I hope that gives you the flavour. We will go round the
table and introduce ourselves.
Lord Powell of Bayswater:
Charles Powell, Independent member of the House of Lords, a combination
of Civil Service and business background.
Lord Paul: Swaraj Paul, member of the
Labour Party. My experience has been in the manufacturing industry.
Lord James of Blackheath: David James,
Conservative. Some years spent on the North Sea.
Lord Mitchell: Parry Mitchell, Labour
peer. I am a businessman in the IT sector.
Lord Bradshaw: Bill Bradshaw, Liberal
Democrat, with a background in transport.
Lord Walpole: Robin Walpole, Independent.
I am a farmer, landowner and environmentalist.
Q358 Chairman: This is our specialist
adviser who is an academic at Imperial College specialising in
energy policy and technology. We will send you the draft of the
transcript, please feel free to correct it and send it back. Before
I start with Lord Powell, could you just tell us about your own
background and your position. If you would, could you tell us
a bit about the parliamentary timetable on this issue.
Ms Morgan: First of all, thank you very
much for asking me to come along and give evidence today. I must
tell you to begin with that I am not an expert on this particular
field, my field is more liberalisation of the energy markets,
but I have been working closely with Claude Turmes, who I understood
is giving evidence to you.
Q359 Chairman: He had to go to a
funeral today, unfortunately.
Ms Morgan: What a shame. That explains
a lot. He is an absolute expert in this whole field.
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