Clause 2
Green Energy (Definition and Promotion) Bill
2:30 pm
Joan Ruddock (Minister of State, Department for Energy and Climate Change; Lewisham, Deptford, Labour)
The Government believe that clause 2 should stand part of the Bill—members of the Committee will recognise that as the first exception to our proceedings—subject to a number of amendments. Clause 2 is important because it defines the term “green energy” for the purposes of the Bill. Amendment 2 seeks to align better the concept of green energy with the existing scales and definitions that are already familiar in legislation. The amendment makes two key changes. First, in the definition of “green energy”, it changes
“small-scale low-carbon local”
to simply “low-carbon”. Secondly, it adds capacity limits in relation to the generation of electricity and heat. References to renewables and energy efficiency remain in the clause.
The reason for the change in terminology to “low-carbon” is that the explicit introduction of capacity limits obviates the need to require green energy to be small-scale, which answers the question asked by the hon. Member for Cheltenham. Following the change, subsection (2) is left with the phrase
“renewable or...low-carbon...sources”.
That reflects the definition outlined in new clause 1, which will take the place of clause 3, on the microgeneration strategy. That approach not only gives consistency to the Bill but creates certainty, because new clause 1 links the term
“renewable or low-carbon source”
to the sources of energy or technologies specified in section 82(7) of the Energy Act 2004, which is the parent legislation for much of the Bill’s policy.
Setting capacity limits gives greater certainty still. It also removes the need to set those capacity limits in the original clause 1. In setting limits, the amendment achieves better alignment with existing legislation. For example, the 5 MW limit is the maximum capacity for small-scale low-carbon electricity generation set out in the feed-in tariff powers in section 41 of the Energy Act 2008. The 5 MW upper capacity cap was debated at length by Parliament in considering that section of the 2008 Act. While it is recognised that the limit is greater than that of, for example, the definition of microgeneration in section 82 of the 2004 Act, we concluded that the 5 MW upper capacity cap was appropriate in the context of small-scale generation. The setting of the specified maximum capacity, which is required by the 2008 Act, will be done through secondary legislation and is subject to the approval of Parliament.