COLUMN by Thornbury and Yate MP Claire Young
Being a member of the Energy Security and Net Zero Select Committee gives me the opportunity to feed into and help shape the Government’s approach to our future energy plans.
I recently got the chance to grill Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on what steps he will be taking to support British businesses to become world leaders in different types of clean power generation.
In particular, I was keen to press him on what work the Government is doing to embrace emerging fields such as geothermal energy.
This comes in different forms, but all are about using the Earth’s natural heat to heat homes and businesses or generate electricity.
In a former mining area like ours, for example, that could mean extracting heat from water in old mine workings.
He said that the Department for Energy Security has now set up a dedicated team of experts whose sole focus is exploring and examining these emerging areas.
This is welcome, but it remains to be seen whether this will lead to genuine change or whether Ministers continue to be wary of innovation
During the session I once again raised the huge potential for tidal power generation along the River Severn.
The Severn Estuary Commission recently published a report, setting out how we can harness the Severn to generate more energy locally using tidal lagoons rather than the barrage previously considered.
This would not only help safeguard our country’s future by generating more power here at home but also deliver huge investment to communities along the Severn.
This could create well paid green jobs for local people and make our area a driver of innovation.
The idea of energy from the Severn is not a new one, having been floated in one form or another over the past 100 years.
This is a chance for the Government to be bold and make a change that will make a real difference to our lives.
Under the Conservatives we saw innovation in renewable energy slowed, and I am disappointed that Ed Miliband was only able to give broad commitments to changing that.
However, he did seem open to exploring ideas like Severn tidal power further and I will keep raising this until we get some tangible results.
Share