Viscount Trenchard (Con)

My Lords, I declare my nuclear power-related interests, as stated in the register. I support my noble friend Lord Offord of Garvel, who has moved Amendment 59 which, together with other amendments in this group, seeks to align the objectives of GBE with claims made by the Government before the general election as to what GBE would achieve for consumers. I think it is fair to say that the pledge to cut consumers’ bills by £300 per household was a specific promise, and it was repeated often. I understand that the £300 pledge was made on the back of a report by the energy think tank Ember, but that it was based on the energy price cap that applied in 2023. Is it not also based on the less ambitious plan for transition to net zero, to which the previous Government had committed? However, the previous Government had not planned on setting up GBE. Will the Minister please explain where the savings figure of £300 came from, and whether the Government still support it? In that case, is it not right that it should be made a specific objective of GBE? Will the Minister also tell the Committee whether my noble friend Lord Frost was correct in his warning, in his debate on 14 November, that NESO’s figures predicting the cost of electricity generated from offshore wind were rather optimistic at £44 per megawatt hour? My noble friend told your Lordships that recent payments to offshore wind farms under contracts for difference suggest that the real cost may be three times as much, at some £150 per megawatt hour. If that is so, NESO’s report on the Government’s plan to decarbonise the grid by 2030 may need some adjustment. I still do not understand why the Government choose to subsidise only wind and solar schemes rather than nuclear. If consumers are required to subsidise only intermittent sources of energy, it follows that the total energy mix will be disproportionately dependent on intermittent sources. We need much more nuclear, which should not be seen as an add-on, to ensure that we can keep the lights on when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine. It should be seen as a core and important part of our firm baseload energy system. Indeed, we were once global leaders in nuclear power, but we now have a severe shortage of skilled workers with experience in the sector. Those we have are relatively old, and we need to train many more younger workers in nuclear technologies, and rebuild the supply chain. I am talking not just of gigawatt scale large plants like Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C, but small SMRs and AMRs which are flexible and very cost effective. That is why I have added my name to Amendment 61, also in the name of my noble friend Lord Offord. We must ensure that we benefit from the so-called clean energy transition, which is particularly relevant in the case of nuclear technologies. It is right that GBE, as a publicly owned company, should report annually to the Secretary of State on progress in re-establishing supply chains as a strategic priority. There is not much about nuclear in the Government’s new publication Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, published on 13 December. It refers to GBE’s founding statement published in July. That document explains GBE’s five functions, of which building supply chains in “every corner of the UK” is listed fourth out of five, in two short paragraphs. “Working with GBN” is listed last, in a short single paragraph. I have also added my name in support of Amendment 63. It is essential that GBE must understand what fulfilling its strategic priorities will cost—otherwise, how can the Secretary of State exercise his powers of direction in a responsible manner? Similarly, Amendment 65 would ensure that GBE must not waste money by investing in schemes that are too far from a grid connection or have no cost-effective access to the grid and no realistic prospect of acquiring one in a timely manner. I have also added my name to Amendments 69 and 70 in the name of my noble friend, who has eloquently explained to your Lordships the purposes of these amendments: namely, to require GBE to consider carbon emissions from each investment and to do the same in respect of its whole investment portfolio, reporting to Parliament annually. We may not agree on the absolute prioritisation, regardless of cost and damage to our industrial base, of the elimination of all fossil fuels from our energy generation system, but we can all agree that it is a good thing that public money should be spent in such a way that increases clean power at the expense of less clean power—that is, as long as the benefits gained justify the cost. The Committee will have a chance to debate this matter in the next group. Among the investments that GBE will make, I very much hope there will be some investments in nuclear power schemes, particularly in SMR and AMR technologies. As the Minister told your Lordships in his briefing before Second Reading, he does not expect GBE to make investments in nuclear, at least initially. I think this is because the Government think that it is not possible to deploy any of these new technologies before the 2030 target for clean power. The 13-page press release accompanying the release of the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan contains “nuclear” only once, explaining that the Government’s clean power mission is the solution to this crisis, “by sprinting to clean, homegrown energy, including renewables and nuclear”. But the action plan’s sparse references to nuclear comprise only a single reference to the GBN-led SMR programme, and a reference to the extension to the life of the four existing AGR reactors as a stopgap measure. I cannot find any evidence that the authors of the action plan see nuclear as playing much of a role in sprinting to clean energy. I have also put my name to Amendment 72, which requires an annual report by GBE of its impact on the amount of imported energy. In preparing for this debate on Saturday morning, I took a look at the National Grid’s energy dashboard, which revealed at 10.15 am that we were drawing 14.7% of our electricity from imports, which is too high. Indeed, the name of the Minister’s own department emphasises the importance of energy security. The winter sun was shining brightly, but solar contributed only 4.3% and wind a mere 8.8%, less than the 11.4% generated by our existing, ageing nuclear power stations. Noble Lords will appreciate that the electricity grid accounts for around 20% of total energy consumption, which means that wind power on Saturday morning was supplying around 1.76% of the country’s total energy requirement, and solar less than 1%, even on a sunny day. Overreliance on intermittent energy sources does not help energy security—quite the reverse. I have added my name to Amendment 80, tabled by my noble friend Lord Petitgas. Of course, it must be right that GBE should be required to produce quarterly accounts and audited accounts annually. As far as the requirements for reports on carbon emissions are concerned, the amendment duplicates Amendments 69 and 70. If the Minister can assure the Committee that the Government will bring their own amendments to satisfy these requirements, I am sure that such duplication can be avoided. Lastly, I support Amendment 85A in the name of my noble friend Lord Hamilton, which seeks to achieve substantially the same result. Amendment 80 is also necessary to ensure proper scrutiny of GBE’s decision-making process with regard to its investments. Will the Minister explain his view on GBE’s role as a potential investor in joint public and private partnerships?