Renewables Obligation Order 2009

I thank the Minister for describing so well this important order. The Committee is obliged to the Merits of Statutory Instruments Committee, particularly to its chairman, the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, for drawing the Committee’s attention to such an important order, particularly as it gives rise to issues of public policy. I also thank my noble friend Lord Jenkin of Roding, who makes my job much easier because he is so on top of this subject, and I shall be interested to hear the Minister’s answer, particularly on the cost to the consumer. I will not take up too much of the Committee’s time, but I will say that although we have many reservations about the past performance of the renewables obligation and have criticised what one of my honourable friends in another place likes to call, ""the one-club golfing approach"," which it has created, banding is, as he said yesterday, ""a major improvement to what has been a deeply disappointing programme, given the huge potential we have to be a global player in the 21st-century renewable energy sector. I hope the Minister will listen harder to the industry and work to improve the RO, so that we see the delivery of major renewables projects, with all the jobs and economic advantages that that will entail. We must focus not only on the 2020 renewables targets, as hard and as stretching as they are, but on our carbon-abatement targets, as well. We have to ensure that the measures in the draft order do not over-prioritise one at the expense of delivering value for money in the other.""The renewables obligation disappointed and frustrated those who wanted to go harder, faster and wider in the development of the British renewables sector in its first phase. We will look closely ""to see whether a radical restructuring of the RO with banding is sufficient. It is clear that, with a feed-in tariff, renewable energy can be developed much quicker than we have been able to do. I hope the new banding system succeeds, but to do that it requires a sense of ambition, open-mindedness and pragmatism to be shared in the Government. My suspicion is that we still have a one-size-fits-all approach from a system that is too Whitehall-centric and does not do enough to encourage the entrepreneurial smaller, newer and exciting technologies".—[Official Report, Commons, Sixth Delegated Legislation Committee, 17/3/09; cols. 9-10.]" I was delighted to hear the Minister today talking more warmly about this very important small section of our community. I will be interested to hear the answer to the question asked by my noble friend Lord Jenkin about the cost to the consumer, but, for the moment, we are happy just to support the order.