Energy and Climate Change and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

I want to raise the issue of the strategic balance of our future energy policy, which I feel that we have got wrong, but I shall first pose three questions. First, does our strategy for a low-carbon economy, which places such a heavy burden on the nation, put too much emphasis on alternative energy sources to the detriment of a robust and sensible approach to fossil fuels? Secondly, has politically correct thinking forced both the EU and the Government to create a strategy incapable of achieving its built-in targets? Thirdly, will we be able to produce the energy that we need to keep the lights on and the country working? Those are the questions that we should ask of our future energy mix and the strategy that we are using to achieve it, so let us look at the facts. On 26 June, the Prime Minister unveiled the Government's strategy for building a low-carbon economy. It involves building 7,000 wind turbines, 4,000 on land and 3,000 offshore, by 2020. In addition, there is to be a mix of microgeneration, tidal and wave power and other forms of alternative energy. The strategy will be expensive. The Climate Change Act 2008 will cost Britain £18 billion a year, or £720 for every household in the country from now until 2050. That is quite a price, and it must produce a viable return. I am delighted to say that nuclear power will figure prominently in Britain's future energy mix. I welcome that, but I am deeply concerned about the role that wind power will play. We all know that onshore wind power is pretty universally disliked. I do not know whether that is true in the Secretary of State's constituency, but it is pretty true in most of the constituencies that I go to. More importantly, onshore wind power is the section of the strategy that many people think is unworkable. It is certainly massively expensive, and some say that it simply panders to the fashionable end of the green lobby. The strategy is, at heart, a built-in conflict between renewable and non-renewable energy. The balance between the two is out of kilter and needs to be reassessed quickly. Many experts have stated that we will never be able to build the 7,000 turbines by the target date. Whether we have the available construction capacity is doubtful, as is whether there is the political will to allow the challenge to be met. Even if we did manage to build the turbines—and, given the time frame, offshore turbines will be a particular problem—they will not produce the energy that we will need when we need it and at a cost that we will want to pay. We must face up to that problem. The second problem with regard to wind is that Britain will still require considerable conventional electricity generating back-up, as wind fluctuations mean that turbines often have spells when they produce little electricity. "Peak demand" means exactly what it says. It is no good telling industry to wait until the wind picks up. International business waits for no man and will soon go elsewhere if we fail to deliver on time. Is back-up a real problem? Mr. Paul Golby, chief executive of E.ON UK, has stated that we should require conventional back-up capable of producing 90 per cent. of wind turbine capacity. What is the point of that? It is like having 10 subs on the subs' bench, all of equal ability to the players on the pitch. Very few football teams can afford to do that—