Lord Offord of Garvel (Con)

My Lords, I will speak in support of the amendments of my noble friend Lord Lilley. It goes without saying that long-duration energy storage is essential if the Government are to achieve the clean energy targets that will ensure that fossil fuels are phased out. To replace fossil fuel-derived energy, the Government are ramping up renewables—an entirely unreliable source. It is therefore critical that we use long-duration energy storage if we are to maintain the electricity supply. As has been referenced by my noble friends Lord Lilley and Lord Reay, the Royal Society has estimated that a substantial volume of long-duration energy storage—enough to supply roughly a third of current annual UK generation—could ultimately be needed. It found that a strategic reserve of long-duration storage will be particularly important to address supply shortfalls from renewables in periods of low wind and rain. If the Government are to achieve a fully decarbonised electricity system by 2030, they must make provisions for substantial energy storage to manage the gaps between increased supply and demand. While Britain has just 2.8 gigawatts of long-duration energy storage capacity from four pumped hydro-plants in Scotland and Wales, it is believed that terawatt hours of long-duration electricity storage will be needed to decarbonise the grid in the whole of the UK. The storage of power increases the flexibility of the grid and minimises likelihood of wasted renewables in cases of excess supply. Therefore, if GB Energy contributes to a large-scale rollout of long-duration energy storage, it would increase the availability of renewable power and may even lower consumer energy bills. The previous Government consulted on policy mechanisms to support low-carbon storage and introduced a target in the British Energy Security Strategy to deploy enough to balance the electricity system. We also moved to reform energy systems, establishing the future system operator, and consulted on a long-duration energy storage business. Finally, the previous Government addressed the challenging economics of long-duration energy storage projects and activity, and they consulted on introducing a cap and floor mechanism to implement additional financial support mechanisms. Clause 3 states that GB Energy’s objects include facilitating and participating in the storage of clean energy. I therefore ask the Minister to confirm exactly how GB Energy will be involved in the storage of electricity generated from these renewable sources. It is critical as it prioritises the storage of energy to avoid the risk of blackouts, price fluctuations and our reliance on energy imported from foreign states. We cannot afford to compromise our energy security even more by failing to do so. In conclusion, the development of long-term energy storage technology must occur alongside that of the national grid. We cannot increase our energy storage if we have no means to transmit and distribute the electricity. We face an immense but urgent challenge in scaling up our clean energy infrastructure, whether that be storage or distribution. I look to the Minister to clarify what proportion of the allocated £8.3 billion of taxpayers’ money will be invested in long-term energy storage solutions.