Michael Shanks

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. I thank the hon. Member for Ynys Môn (Llinos Medi) for securing this important debate. We have been in a number of debates on topics like this over the past few weeks. It is great that her speech reflected that she is a champion of the renewable sector and the benefits that can bring to her constituency. She said that her constituency is now known as “energy island”, which is a true reflection of the powerhouse it has become in recent years. It has established technologies: solar, as she talked about, but also onshore wind and a number of other projects to come. It is also home to some of our newer technologies: tidal stream projects of around 38 MW are in the contracts for difference rounds, and we will be talking much more about that in the future. I thank hon. Members for the tone of today’s debate and for their contributions. Our starting point, which the Government have been very clear on from day one, is that we want to deliver clean power by 2030. We want to do that for a number of reasons: to protect people from the wild price spikes that they suffered because of the volatility of global fuel markets, to tackle climate change—a lot of the discussion today on the importance of agriculture misses the importance of tackling climate change, which is currently having an enormous impact on farms right across the country and, if we do not act faster now, will continue to have an even greater impact—and to deliver the energy security the country needs.That will involve a diverse range of projects and technologies We are not putting one technology forward as the answer to everything—this is about balance, as several hon. Members said today. Yes, ground-mounted solar plays a really important part, but so too does roof solar. We are not picking one or the other. Both are incredibly important, and there are huge opportunities for a rooftop solar revolution, which we will be seeing more about in the months ahead. But ground-mounted solar also has an important role to play. This is a question of balance.