Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con) I beg to move, That
this House has considered ports and green energy. It is a pleasure
to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Cummins—for the first time, I
believe. I look forward to the next 90 minutes. I almost thought I
saw the Minister cursing under his breath as he sat down for yet
another debate; I keep dragging him back here to talk about issues
that are close to my heart and to the interests of my constituency
in...Request free trial
(Preseli Pembrokeshire)
(Con)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered ports and green energy.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs
Cummins—for the first time, I believe. I look forward to the next
90 minutes. I almost thought I saw the Minister cursing under his
breath as he sat down for yet another debate; I keep dragging him
back here to talk about issues that are close to my heart and to
the interests of my constituency in Pembrokeshire. I am grateful
to have secured time for this debate.
This is an important topic, for a couple of reasons. First, quite
simply, without a thriving port sector attracting the necessary
new infrastructure investment, I do not believe that we will be
able to meet the ambitious targets that we have set to protect
our energy security and renew our energy system as we work
towards net zero. Secondly, a new generation of investment in our
ports, based around a long-term vision for renewable energy, has
the potential to make a significant contribution to addressing
some of the economic inequalities and deprivation that we see in
too many of our port communities.
I believe that ports can be an engine for local economic renewal
and the key to a new energy future for the whole United Kingdom.
That is the essential message that I hope to convey in my short
remarks this afternoon. The key question I want to pose is this:
what are the steps, decisions and interventions that His
Majesty’s Government can take to support and shape this new
future for our ports, while recognising that it is the private
sector investors and developers who will ultimately need to make
that vision a reality?
Nowhere is that more clearly in focus than in my constituency of
Preseli Pembrokeshire. The port of Milford Haven is the UK’s most
important energy port, hosting major oil refining and petroleum
import and export terminals, two liquefied natural gas import and
regasification terminals, and one of the UK’s largest and most
efficient gas-fired power stations. The port looks forward to a
future in which offshore wind and hydrogen will play a central
role as our energy system changes. I will make some specific
remarks later about the situation at Milford Haven in the context
of its relationship with Port Talbot; together, those two south
Wales ports form the Celtic Freeport enterprise. I am sure that
the points I make will come as no surprise to the Minister,
because he has been generous in giving me lots of time over the
past year or two to talk about the vision that is emerging there.
He has been extremely helpful in his work to take that
forward.
As we are an island nation, it seems almost trite and blindingly
obvious to say that ports are an essential part of our economy as
gateways for vital imports and valuable exports. However, I do
not think that that point is appreciated enough, partly because
while some ports have flourished in recent times, others have
not. In too many of our port communities, there is a sense that
they are no longer quite as central to our economic life as they
once were when the structure of the UK economy looked very
different. Many ports have seen a steep decline in trade and
industrial activity without seeing new industries and sectors
emerging to fully plug the gap.
I believe that the green energy revolution offers a turning point
for many of our ports. There is a broad consensus shared across
the Government, the Opposition and large swathes of industry
about the increasing importance of renewable energy in our energy
mix and about the need for less reliance on imported
hydrocarbons. With the impact of climate change brought
increasingly into focus following the supply and price impacts of
the war in Ukraine, we can see the net zero and energy security
agendas coming together in a very potent way. The need to deliver
home-grown, affordable and sustainable energy has never been
greater. Our ports are right at the heart of meeting that
challenge.
It is worth saying that Britain does not exist in isolation when
it comes to this agenda. Across Europe, North America and indeed
the whole world, many other countries are looking at this—just
look at the efforts being made by major ports across Europe to
get ready by upgrading their infrastructure to enable a big
increase in renewable energy. We can see that at Bilbao, Brest,
Rotterdam and other locations across Europe. We are in an
internationally competitive environment. One point that I want to
leave with the Minister today is that, for all the ambition we
have and the vision that we have set out and are pursuing, we
need to recognise that others are doing so as well. Given the
competition for investment and capital, often from large global
companies, we need to be getting our skates on and making good
progress.
Ports have a major role to play in delivering on the renewable
energy vision, and not just as transit points or entry and exit
points for materials; they also have the potential to be hubs for
manufacturing, energy generation, operations, maintenance and
servicing. Just as in another era our ports acted as cradles of
the industrial revolution, I think they can be cradles of a new
green industrial revolution, based on the vision that I have been
outlining.
(East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
I congratulate my right hon. Friend on securing this debate, to
which I have come purely so that I can hijack it by singing the
virtues of Shoreham harbour, the closest cross-channel harbour to
London. He mentioned green hubs, and I absolutely agree with his
comments about flexibility and the renaissance in our ports.
Shoreham harbour has put solar panels on its sheds. It has wind
turbines. It helps to service the Rampion wind farm just
offshore, which will expand to power more than 1.2 million homes
across Sussex. It is becoming a hydrogen hub, working with
Ricardo engineering, which retrofits engines to be run on
hydrogen. Shoreham wants to produce its own hydrogen as well as
importing it, and it will be an important centre for net zero
through the Sussex bay kelp project, where carbon capture by
seaweed is even greater than by trees. Is Shoreham not a great
example of flexibility, adaptability and the huge potential of
the green revolution, which can also apply to the whole United
Kingdom?
I am grateful for the very concise way in which my hon. Friend
has sung the virtues of his local port. He draws attention to an
extremely important point. Very rarely are we talking about
individual technologies in isolation; often they come together as
a mix. There are so many synergies from different companies
working together, as we can see at so many ports around the
United Kingdom. It is really encouraging to see so many
colleagues in the Chamber from so many different parts of the
United Kingdom, hopefully looking to share in the vision that we
are talking about.
(Banff and Buchan) (Con)
On the subject of ports, I should not let the moment pass without
mentioning Peterhead and the nearby St Fergus gas terminal. As my
right hon. Friend will know, it is the site of the Acorn carbon
capture and storage project, which, when completed, will have
import capability that perhaps exporters of carbon dioxide from
his constituency will take advantage of.
I am grateful for my hon. Friend’s intervention. Banff and Buchan
is a constituency with which I am very familiar, as he knows, and
there are some exciting things happening. For a long time the
north-east of Scotland was associated with fishing and oil, but
there is a lot more to talk about now, so I look forward to
hearing further contributions from him this afternoon.
To encourage the investment required for all the ports that we
have an interest in and are talking about this afternoon, the
targets that the Government are setting are really important
because they set the level of ambition and send a signal to
investors in the marketplace about what the Government want.
There are two documents that are particularly important in
describing the opportunities flowing from the new energy
environment that we are in. One is the energy security strategy
published in April last year; the other, which was published in
March this year, is “Powering Up Britain”, which speaks to the
role of new renewable technologies in our energy mix and outlines
the scale of the ambition. Because of my local port and our
proximity to the Celtic sea, I have a particular interest in the
Government’s ambitions for floating offshore wind. In those two
Government documents, I believe there lies a major new industrial
opportunity for our nation.
The targets that have been set include 5 GW of floating offshore
wind, 10 GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity, up to 70
GW of new solar, and an ambition for between 20 million and 30
million tonnes per annum of carbon storage. That is an exciting
and ambitious set of targets that the Government are setting out.
Meeting them will require a lot of work and a lot of investment,
and ports will be right at the centre of it.
Different ports will undoubtedly offer different capabilities
according to size, location, local skills mix and local supply
chains. It is too easy to say that there will be something for
everyone, but if the floating offshore wind sector in the Celtic
sea plays anything like the role that the Government are setting
out for it in “Powering Up Britain”, it will generate new
activity in multiple port locations across south Wales and
south-west England.
But let us not get ahead of ourselves. The truth is that we still
do not have any floating offshore wind projects up and running in
the Celtic sea. That leads me on to the final section of my
speech, in which I will outline the significance of what we have
in my constituency at Milford Haven, as well as summarising the
key asks that I want to put to the Government.
(Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)
I feel this is an appropriate juncture to intervene. My right
hon. Friend will be aware of the importance of Felixstowe port in
Suffolk, which has almost 50% of the UK’s container trade.
Through strategic investment, there is a great opportunity for
the Government not only to support the economic growth of ports,
but to support them in delivering the decarbonising agenda. In
the case of Felixstowe, investment in the Ely junction will make
a significant difference by potentially improving freight rail
capacity to the port. Will my right hon. Friend join me in urging
the Minister to recommit today to the Government securing timely
funding for upgrading that junction and others in the east of
England? That will allow improved freight transport to
Felixstowe, will help to decarbonise the transport of goods to
the port and will improve its economic capacity.
I am grateful for that intervention. I am not familiar with the
specifics of what my hon. Friend is talking about, but as I am
generally in favour of upgrading junctions, I will echo his call
to the Minister to support the investment required. His point
about decarbonisation is really important; I might say a few
words myself about decarbonisation in the context of the local
energy industry in Milford Haven.
In the port of Milford Haven, we have the UK’s single largest
cluster of energy-related businesses, with high-capacity oil and
gas pipelines, electricity connections and a wide range of
conventional oil and gas companies, as I referred to earlier. The
energy sector in Pembrokeshire supports the employment of 5,000
skilled workers across Wales and the employment of many hundreds
more throughout the wider supply chain.
Last week, alongside representatives of many companies at the
port, I had the pleasure of celebrating the delivery of the
1,000th cargo of liquefied natural gas at the South Hook LNG
terminal. This afternoon we are talking about the green energy
revolution, but the truth—this is a point that the Minister
understands very well—is that we will rely on oil and gas for
decades to come, and the terminals in my constituency that have
done a lot of the heavy lifting in the last couple of years in
enhancing UK energy security will be as vital as ever. Those
conventional energy companies are themselves taking huge strides
and making big investments to decarbonise, reduce their own
carbon footprint and fit in with the framework of policy and
ambition that the Government have set out.
I commend those companies—South Hook LNG, Dragon LNG, the Valero
oil refinery, the Puma oil import terminal—which are all part of
a cluster around the Milford Haven waterway that is sharing best
practice and working together. They are part of the wider south
Wales industrial cluster, which has been charged by the
Government with the mission of leading decarbonisation efforts. I
look forward to hearing the remarks of my friend the hon. Member
for Aberavon (). The south Wales
corridor—from Milford Haven in the west with its big hydrocarbon
plants, through to Port Talbot with the enormous Tata steelworks,
and then to Newport and the border of England at Gwent—accounts
for a major chunk of Wales’s overall carbon emissions, so the
south Wales industrial cluster’s efforts to decarbonise are
vital. The Government support them, but it would be good for
Ministers to engage even more with the cluster and particularly,
from my point of view, with the energy cluster in
Pembrokeshire.
In October last year, I led a debate in Westminster Hall about
floating offshore wind. I will not repeat everything I said about
the new industrial opportunity for Wales and south-west England
that lies in the Celtic sea, but I underline the point that this
is not some piece of green idealism. The Government’s targets for
reaching net zero and ensuring a greater degree of energy
security require industrial development in the Celtic sea on a
very large scale. Milford Haven is in an ideal geographic
location for the Celtic sea developments.
Milford Haven also has more than 50 years of energy industry
skills and heritage. Many companies in the local supply chain are
well able to adapt and are excited about the potential new
opportunities from floating offshore wind. More than 20 companies
have expressed an interest as potential developers in floating
offshore wind projects in the Celtic sea, including large
companies such as RWE and Equinor, which have global footprints
and are already investing in Pembrokeshire ahead of the opening
up of the Celtic sea. Other companies such as Floventis are
already working with local schools and colleges to look at what
kind of skills will be required and to excite young people about
the green energy revolution. We will need many more people going
into technical trades—more welders, pipe fitters, marine
engineers, navigators and people who can work offshore—as well as
project planners and all the other highly skilled jobs that are
required to deliver such projects. It is an exciting time down in
Milford Haven.
Let me wrap up by summarising a few asks of the Government. The
first—the Minister has heard me ask this before, but I will ask
it again—is that it would be great if he could visit Milford
Haven, sit down with some of the companies that I am talking
about, and get a sense of the excitement and the work that is
happening. The previous Secretary of State made a fleeting visit
in the middle of August to RWE’s net zero centre at its power
station in Pembroke, but we need the Minister to engage with the
whole sector. He has previously committed to coming down.
Transport to west Wales is appalling—the Welsh Government need to
pull their finger out when it comes to running train services,
but that is a debate for another day—so it is difficult to get
to. There are so many good Scottish colleagues present, so I will
make the point that, given the number of visits that Scottish
constituencies get, it would be great if Wales could have some of
that as well. That is my first ask: come to Pembrokeshire and see
what is happening.
Secondly, the bidding process for the floating offshore wind
manufacturing investment scheme closed recently. I have written
to the Secretary of State, copying in the Treasury. I strongly
support Milford Haven’s application for FLOWMIS funding. I have
made this point previously, and I will make it again this
afternoon: if this fund is to help unlock strategic investment in
port infrastructure, it has to be used in a targeted way. I love
levelling-up funds—I love the way they are used and spread
around—but this is not a levelling-up fund. It has to be used to
encourage private developers to release their funding, to
incentivise and to send a market signal. I encourage the use of
that money. There is £160 million. It should be more, and
hopefully it could be more. I would like to see Milford Haven and
the port of Port Talbot in south Wales get their asks. Investment
is needed in both locations. Everyone who is considering the
industry of floating offshore wind in the Celtic sea will agree
that Milford Haven and Port Talbot are the two western-facing
ports in the Celtic sea where this will happen first.
Thirdly, we appreciate the support that the UK Government have
given to establishing the Celtic freeport. I am delighted that
Milford Haven, and Port Talbot 70 miles away, have a twinned
arrangement and are partners in the Celtic freeport enterprise. A
lot of work remains to be done on the governance and on getting
the freeport up and running and doing its thing. I ask the
Minister to show a real interest in that and to meet
representatives of the Celtic freeport to capture their vision of
how they want to use that to incentivise investment, particularly
in supply chains, so that floating offshore wind does not happen
in the same way as fixed-bottom offshore wind, where we ended up
relying on companies based and doing work overseas. We want much
more of the work for this new industry to be based in and close
to our constituencies in south Wales.
My fourth ask of the Minister is on working with the Crown
Estate, which I know he already does. If the Minister looks at
what the Crown Estate has said ahead of its next leasing round,
he will see that it is emphasising the importance of developers
working with what they describe as integration ports. These are
the ports where the kit is going to be assembled, and these are
enormous pieces of kit. I take my hat off to Dan Labbad and his
team, who are doing a very good job, but it is important that the
plan that the Crown Estate is working on aligns with what the UK
Government are doing. That aligned leadership is going to be
important if we are going to make those strides and get the
industry off the ground.
I was going to make a final point about contracts for difference,
but the hon. Member for Strangford () will be leading an excellent Westminster Hall debate
on that subject tomorrow afternoon, so I will let him make those
points. I am sure that he and I think the same about the
issue.
I will leave it there. I look forward to hearing from other
Members.
Several hon. Members rose—
(in the Chair)
Order. I remind Members that I am planning to start Front-Bench
speeches at around 3.28 pm.
2.53pm
(Aberavon) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Cummins. I
thank the right hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire () for securing this vital
debate. It has been a real pleasure working with him cross-party
in the interests of our two communities, and communities right
across the south Wales corridor and the whole of Wales and the
United Kingdom. What we are discussing today genuinely has
UK-wide significance. We worked together to develop and deliver
the successful Celtic freeport bid, and I look forward to further
collaborating on maximising the benefits it will bring.
Britain’s ports are both the gateways and the drivers of so much
economic activity in the UK and, in turn, are crucial to the
prosperity of British people and their families. From the food
shipped into Britain’s supermarket shelves to the exporting of
British goods sold overseas, our ports play a crucial role both
in the everyday lives of families across the UK and in the growth
and success of hundreds of thousands of British businesses. As
well as adding close to £7 billion to the UK economy, ports
employ more than 100,000 people directly, and more than that
again in their supply chains, meaning that they are pivotal to
supporting local economies and providing communities with good
job opportunities. British ports transport around 60 million
international and domestic tourists in and out of the country
every year.
Today I want to focus on the once-in-a-generation opportunity
represented by the new industry of floating offshore wind and the
crucial role that the ports will play. The Celtic sea and Wales’s
geography offer us a significant competitive advantage that we
cannot afford to squander. We must seize this opportunity to
place ourselves at the forefront of the green industrial
revolution, just as Wales was the cradle of the first industrial
revolution two centuries ago. Floating offshore wind has the
potential to deliver 16,000 new jobs and could land £1.7 billion
of investment in port infrastructure and manufacturing in south
Wales. FLOW offers the opportunity to unlock a truly
game-changing £54 billion of investment into the UK economy, with
the Crown Estate aiming for approximately 25 GW by 2045. Indeed,
the first 1 GW of projects alone is anticipated to create 5,000
jobs.
Our Port Talbot port has both the space and the steel to
manufacture these giant structures, while Milford Haven, as the
right hon. Member has pointed out, can provide energy storage
facilities and a whole range of other vital components for this
huge opportunity. This is a global market and we are in a global
race for green investment. Port infrastructure needs to be ready
ahead of time to capture first-mover advantage for Wales, so that
we can land investment in port infrastructure and manufacturing
to generate good job opportunities and deliver energy security.
Without the first-mover advantage, Wales and the UK risk
repeating the experience of earlier waves of offshore and onshore
wind development, where the jobs and investment ended up going to
other countries.
So what do we need to do to seize these opportunities? First, we
need to make sure that the port infrastructure is built. The port
and the prospective developers need certainty. They need
assurances that the market will reach its full 24 GW capacity. Of
course, the first round of FLOW, as confirmed by the Crown
Estate, is only set at 4.5 GW, but it is the long-term line of
sight on this and the pipeline that we really need to focus on.
Associated British Ports is developing its plans for Port Talbot
at pace, investing more than £500 million in developing a major
floating offshore wind integration assembly port and a wider
green energy hub. But the length of the leasing window by the
Crown Estate is of crucial importance. We need a clear outline of
the development window to that 24 GW target for flow in the
Celtic sea. This is to act as a clear signal in that FLOW global
market. Could I ask the Minister to outline the steps he is
taking to secure clarity about the long-term pipeline?
Secondly, Wales must get its fair share of the floating offshore
wind manufacturing investment scheme programme. There is a pot
totalling £160 million for the whole of the UK. Welsh ports must
get their fair share of that pot. It is critical that the UK
Government understand the enormous potential for Welsh ports to
deliver this game-changing new industry. We need the UK
Government to back the two very strong bids from Port Talbot and
Milford Haven for FLOWMIS funding. Could the Minister update us
on FLOWMIS and assure us that Wales will get its fair share?
Thirdly, Aberavon in Wales will secure maximum benefit from
floating offshore wind only if the developers are held to firm
supply chain commitments. The Crown Estate must get this right
when awarding licences. We must ensure that local supply chains
are developed for the manufacture of turbines and their
sub-structures as well as their operation and maintenance. We
cannot have a situation, for example, where these structures are
built in China or somewhere else and merely assembled and
serviced at Welsh ports. That is the case with the Scottish SSE
wind farms, for example, which use no British steel whatever. We
must use local steel. Tata Steel can adapt and reconfigure its
production processes if it knows what the order book looks like,
but it needs that advance warning. Could I ask the Minister to
tell us what steps he is taking to secure those supply chain
commitments right from the outset of the Crown Estate licensing
process?
2.59pm
Sitting suspended for a Division in the House.
3.13pm
On resuming—
(in the Chair)
The debate may now continue until 4.15 pm.
Thank you, Mrs Cummins. I will try to pick up where I left
off.
On the planning side, the Government need to find a solution to
the national grid’s capacity issues. The National Grid says it
has to develop up to five times as much energy infrastructure
over the next seven years as it has developed over the past 30
years, such is the clamour for net zero projects, in terms of
both energy generation and demand. How will the UK Government
and, more specifically, the Minister work with the National Grid
to end the gridlock, and how will they send a clear message to
developers that these problems are going to be fixed?
That brings me to my next point, which is about the
administrative strike price. Allocation round 5 was a shambles,
with no bidders for offshore wind. We need the UK Government
urgently to reshape the contracts for difference for AR6 and make
them more attractive to developers if we are to realise Britain’s
potential to become a world leader on FLOW.
Finally, the UK and Welsh Governments must work collaboratively.
We cannot allow bureaucracy to slow us down. Planning and
consenting for major infrastructure is devolved. We need the UK
Government to look for ways to support the Welsh Government to
ensure that current capacity and resource blockages for planning
and consenting are resolved to ensure that the seabed licensing
is accelerated and that port infrastructure in Wales is ready in
time. We also need strong cross-Whitehall co-ordination. I worry
that the large number of Government Departments involved means
that the process is not as streamlined as it should be. Perhaps
the Minister could say what he will do to knock heads together to
unlock all of the blockages.
This is a huge, game-changing opportunity for Aberavon, Wales and
the entire United Kingdom. Ports play an absolutely crucial role
in this opportunity. I look forward to the Minister’s comments so
that we can find a pathway towards maximising the opportunities
before us.
Several hon. Members rose—
(in the Chair)
Order. Before I call the next speaker, may I gently ask Members
to make contributions of about four minutes so that we can get
everybody in?
3.16pm
(Moray) (Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Cummins. I
apologise that I will have to leave before the end of the debate
for a meeting at 4 o’clock.
I thank and congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for
Preseli Pembrokeshire () on securing this debate. I
agreed with everything he said and noted his slight jealousy of
how Scottish Conservative MPs are so good at cheering Ministers
who come up to our constituencies. He also mentioned how bad the
transport is in Labour-run Wales. It is also pretty bad in
SNP-run Scotland, particularly if you are trying to get a
ferry—but I digress. [Interruption.] Well, it’s true.
I want to focus for a few minutes on the issues in my
constituency of Moray. Buckie’s proud history as a fishing
harbour dates back many years, to 1878. It was the first large
concrete harbour to be built in Scotland. We have seen a decline
in fishing in Scotland over a number of years, so I was delighted
when Buckie was chosen as the site for the operations and
maintenance of the new Moray West offshore wind farm. That will
bring 60 highly skilled jobs to the community of Buckie. I
discussed this with the developer, Ocean Winds, and the local
community at the opening event. This is not just about the jobs
that are coming, important though they are; there will also be a
long-term effect. The jobs will be there for the next three or
four decades, so this vital work is coming to communities whose
ports have experienced a downturn. It is long-term and highly
skilled work.
Immediately before this debate, I met David Whitehouse from
Offshore Energies UK. He has been doing a lot of work with oil
and gas, but also with renewables and green energy. He was keen
to speak about the opportunities available to ports across
Scotland and the United Kingdom, and about the UK Government’s
support to ensure that the infrastructure is there and is capable
of taking us on to the next level.
The final area I want to look at is freeports in Scotland. I was
delighted that one of the first announcements that the Prime
Minister made after taking office was to deliver the two
freeports in Scotland in conjunction with the Scottish
Government. Our two Governments are working together to deliver
freeports. I spoke to Calum MacPherson, the new chief executive
officer of the Inverness and Cromarty freeport, which will have
benefits for my Moray constituency and constituencies across the
highlands. It is not just great news that we have a freeport
there; it is levelling up in action, because that area has seen a
decline in the working-age population. People will move to
Cromarty and the area to support the tens of thousands of jobs
that could be created as a result of the freeport.
The quayside depths provide Cromarty with an extremely exciting
opportunity to be a real hub for the offshore renewable industry.
Not only is it great that freeport status has come to both the
highlands and the firth of Forth, but the jobs, investment and
building up of the local community are being roundly welcomed by
the vast majority of people. Sadly, some Scottish Government
representatives are still against freeports, but I think the
overwhelming majority of people in Scotland, particularly in the
areas with freeport status, can see the benefits.
Work is being done to ensure that Scotland and its coast, and my
Moray constituency, have the opportunity to be involved in the
next stage of the offshore industry. Oil and gas is still an
important industry in Scotland: 90,000 jobs rely on it. There is
a strong future for it, as we have seen in polling this week.
There are also opportunities in green renewables. I am delighted
that the UK Government support that, and I am firmly behind
them.
3.19pm
(Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the right hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire () for bringing the issue to
Westminster Hall today. He has done so before. I have been here
to support him in the past, and I do so again today with the same
motive: I have always believed in net zero and green energy. Some
people in my party perhaps may not have the same enthusiasm for
it, but that is not the point; the point is that our party is
committed to it, and we want Northern Ireland to contribute to
net zero goals.
Hon. Members will be aware, from their constituencies, of the
expansion of green ports across the UK. I for one want to ensure
that Northern Ireland and my constituency of Strangford take part
in this expansion, so it is good to participate in the debate. We
all want to play a part in helping our society to turn greener.
Northern Ireland has five ports, four of which are public trust
ports; they are in Belfast, Londonderry, Warrenpoint and
Coleraine. The fifth is Larne, which is privately owned by
P&O. Northern Ireland also has three fishing ports: Ardglass,
Kilkeel and Portavogie, which lies on the Ards peninsula in my
constituency of Strangford. While the right hon. Gentleman may
not have had the Minister visit his constituency, I am pleased to
say that he has visited Portaferry. He has been to Scotland and
Northern Ireland, so I am sure he will eventually get to
Wales.
The seaports are managed by the Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour
Authority. I have worked closely with local fishermen in my
constituency for years. Fishing is such an important industry for
Northern Ireland, and across the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland. There is certainly scope to ensure that our
local ports and harbours have the opportunity to become greener
and more environmentally friendly. I welcome that and encourage
everyone to support that, but the incentives need to be there to
make that happen. The International Maritime Organisation has set
the target of halving 2008 emissions by 2050—quite a big goal,
but if we put our mind to it we can achieve it.
The strategy to reduce emissions is to increase electrification
of ports and port handling processes, and to adopt future fuels
such as liquified natural gas, hydrogen or ammonia. Globally, we
need to come together as one to decarbonise shipping and ports,
thus ensuring our target for net maritime CO2reduction is met.
Everyone here knows where I stand: I am a great believer in this
great United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. With
respect to my hon. Friend the Member for Dunfermline and West
Fife (), we are always better
together. We can do this better together, and I do not see any
reason why it cannot happen.
Shell is developing a hydrogen hub through the port of Rotterdam
and the Hollandse Kust wind farm, which aims to start production
in 2023, so there are examples in other parts of Europe that we
could replicate. The wind farm is expected to produce some 60,000
kg of hydrogen daily, which will fuel 2,300 hydrogen-powered
goods vehicles per day. That is a scheme that could really work.
I know the Minister has always been keen to tell us what the
United Kingdom is doing, and we will hear some of that later on.
Closer to home, the port of Aberdeen in Scotland has also taken
action.
There is a great necessity for a solid and flexible energy system
that complements local production of green energy with the import
of renewable molecules. If port and harbour masters are to
consider the benefits of a green future, Government incentives
must be there. I ask the Minister whether the incentives to make
that happen can be put in place.
We are a maritime nation. The United Kingdom’s ports can be the
basis for a new, low-carbon economic model and can help to
address the long-standing regional imbalances that have come to
characterise the British economy. This United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland should pave the way, and the
devolved Administrations should not be left behind. Associated
British Ports is committed to investing in green energy
infrastructure, and the services needed to deliver a clean energy
transition and create lasting prosperity for our coastal
communities. We need greater integration between this place and
the Department for the Economy back home in Northern Ireland,
through the Minister’s participation and encouragement. I
encourage the Minister to ensure that we in Northern Ireland
become part of this project.
3.24pm
(Southampton, Itchen)
(Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Cummins. I
do not intend to keep hon. Members too long. In fact, I think my
speech will be shorter than the intervention by my hon. Friend
the Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (). I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for
Preseli Pembrokeshire () on securing the debate and
giving me the opportunity to talk about the port of
Southampton.
Associated British Ports runs the port of Southampton and is
committed to decarbonisation. All ABP vehicles in the port are
electric, and it has free chargers for all visitors and employees
in the port. Last year, ABP commissioned its first shore power
plug-in. Some 80% of cruise ships are capable of taking plug-ins,
but there are very few of them in this country. In fact, ABP in
Southampton had the first commercial plug-in in the UK. It would
like a second one, but the national grid does not have the
capacity. The new cruise terminal that it commissioned the year
before last, the Horizon cruise terminal, which was opened by the
then Minister for marine and maritime, my hon. Friend the Member
for Witney (), is the greenest port
terminal in the country. It has 2,000 solar panels on the roof
and creates more energy than it uses every day. Elsewhere in the
port, DP World operates the container facilities; it has
decarbonised its vehicles and straddle cranes by using
hydro-treated vegetable oil to replace diesel and has cut the
terminal’s emissions by some 80%.
Beyond the boundaries of the port, the Solent cluster is working
to decarbonise energy. The cluster is the only decarbonisation
option in the south of England. It is led by ExxonMobil, ABP, the
Solent local enterprise partnership and the University of
Southampton, and it has over 50 partners. ExxonMobil’s plans are
to create hydrogen manufacturing, which will be able to supply
industrial quantities of hydrogen by 2030 while capturing the
carbon that the manufacturing process creates. It will be able to
capture not only its own carbon, but carbon from other industries
in the area.
The private sector is creating the solutions that we have asked
it to create, but too often obstacles and difficulties hinder its
progress. Too often, companies come to me and say that they would
like to do more, but that the Government, the grid or someone is
getting in the way of their progress. That is why I wanted to
come today and make a few short points to the Minister. Just as
there is uncertainty to do with the national grid, there is
uncertainty to do with licences for storing carbon under the sea.
Those uncertainties are slowing down progress. My plea to the
Minister and the Government is that, where we can, we remove any
obstacles, do not create any more difficulties, and give those
who will create our solutions—the private sector—any support that
the Government can give.
3.27pm
(Cleethorpes) (Con)
It is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Cummins. I
congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli
Pembrokeshire () on securing this important
debate.
There is no doubt that the port sector has a leading role to play
in our energy transition. I am fortunate to have in my
constituency on the Humber the ports of Immingham, Grimsby, Hull
and Goole, which are all owned and operated by Associated British
Ports. We are, indeed, the energy estuary. ABP is committed to
green energy and to meeting our net zero ambitions. The port of
Immingham is the largest port by tonnage, handling around 46
million tonnes of cargo each year. It represents a gateway to
global trade and is a critical part of the supply chain for
sustainable electricity generation and other production that
helps to power the nation.
Linked to ports are, of course, freeports, which also have a huge
role to play in the energy transition. We are fortunate in the
region to have the Humber freeport, which is determined to
accelerate the region as a world-leading hub for renewable energy
and clean growth. The Humber freeport incorporates three tech
sites that will allow for the rapid development of new offshore
wind manufacturing, which will make the site a leading UK
producer of wind turbines. Given that the port of Grimsby, part
of which is in my constituency, is the largest hub for offshore
wind operations in the world—there is significant growth still to
come—the Humber is ideally located to take advantage of the
growing demand for wind energy in the North sea. The Humber ports
are home to world-leading facilities such as Ørsted, the Siemens
blade factory and the offshore renewable energy catapult
operations maintenance bases in Grimsby. This is opportune, given
that offshore wind is set to grow at pace over the next decade,
with 40 GW of clean electricity planned by 2030. The Humber can
act as a model not only for the UK, but for Europe and the wider
world.
ABP has also partnered with Harbour Energy to develop a carbon
dioxide import terminal in Immingham. That terminal will provide
a large-scale facility to connect CO2 emissions from industrial
businesses around the UK to Viking CCS’s CO2 storage sites in the
southern North sea. The project includes Phillips 66, VPI and
West Burton Energy. Together, they aim to capture 10 million
tonnes of UK emissions per annum by 2030. That is vital work in
the UK region that has the greatest CO2 emissions by a
considerable margin. Fortunately, local industry agrees that that
record is not acceptable and must change, which presents a
monumental opportunity. My constituency will hopefully become
home to the Immingham green energy terminal, which will be on the
eastern side of the port of Immingham. That is to be constructed
and maintained by ABP, and will be home to Air Products’ new
hydrogen production facility.
The terminal will include a new jetty with up to two berths and
associated infrastructure, to be used for the import and export
of bulk liquids. It represents a nationally significant
infrastructure project and therefore requires a development
consent order from the Secretary of State. I hope that the
Minister will feed back positively on this project to his
Department, given that the terminal will contribute to the Humber
2030 vision; the Humber Energy Board is driving forward change in
local industries in order to decarbonise the Humber and deliver
clean energy for the future.
The Minister will be aware of the CATCH training facility based
at Stallingborough on the south bank of the Humber, which is
being developed as a national net zero training centre. The
significance of recent and planned investment in decarbonisation
projects in the Humber cannot be overestimated. Offshore wind,
hydrogen energy, carbon capture—the Humber ports have it all. We
are proud to be the UK’s energy estuary, and I am determined for
us to maximise the opportunities that arise from the net zero
transition, creating highly skilled jobs and driving investment.
As my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire
said, we are in a worldwide field. We need certainty and speedy
decisions from the Department; I am sure that the Minister will
confirm that that is what we will get.
3.32pm
(Waveney) (Con)
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Cummins. I
congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli
Pembrokeshire () on securing this debate. He
is right to highlight the opportunities in the Celtic sea. I
shall briefly provide some geographical balance and complete our
tour of coastal Britain by showcasing the work that is taking
place in the southern North sea, off the East Anglia coast. With
the right investment in ports such as Lowestoft, so much more
could be achieved that would not only enhance our energy security
and propel us down the road to net zero, but help to deliver
long-term economic growth.
Lowestoft port, which is likewise part of the ABP fleet, has a
good story to tell. SSE has run its operations and maintenance
base in the outer harbour since 2012, and ScottishPower
Renewables has done likewise since 2019. ABP is progressing plans
for the Lowestoft eastern energy facility. There will also be a
direct air carbon capture demonstrator site in the inner harbour,
which is being progressed by ABP in conjunction with Sizewell C.
Lowestoft and Ipswich ports will also play important roles in
delivering materials to the Sizewell C nuclear power station.
A good start has been made, but there are challenges immediately
ahead that need to be addressed if we are to make the most of
this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. There is a global race for
green investment. The UK should not and cannot get into a subsidy
race to the bottom with the likes of the United States. Instead,
we should work faster and smarter, building flexibly on what we
have already achieved.
In his April report, UK offshore wind champion Tim Pick
highlighted a variety of risks that have limited UK port
investment. Some of those relate to the contracts for difference
mechanism. I will not go into those in detail, as many of us will
be back here tomorrow to take part in the debate on the subject
led by the hon. Member for Strangford (). The report highlighted a variety of obstacles that
need to be addressed. There are some interesting recommendations,
which I will briefly highlight: an industrial growth plan; a
support framework for offshore wind ports targeted at the risks
that they face; and a recommendation that the Government should
give offshore wind ports priority, just as they do to offshore
wind farms, in the national policy statements. I would be most
grateful if, in summing up, my right hon. Friend the Minister
advised us how he and the Government will respond to Tim Pick’s
report, with specific regard to promoting investment in port
infrastructure.
In conclusion, over the past decade offshore wind has been a
great British success story. We put in place a mechanism that has
worked very well. However, due to geopolitical and inflationary
pressures, it needs recalibrating. As part of that process,
leading up to the autumn statement, we need to review the way we
promote investment in port infrastructure. Ports such as
Lowestoft are honeypots not only for decarbonisation but for job
creation and regeneration. They are the link between offshore
electricity regeneration and onshore supply chains. Nurture them
properly and the dividends will be significant.
3.36pm
(Dunfermline and West
Fife) (SNP)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Cummins. I
am delighted to sum up in today’s debate on the contribution of
ports to green energy. I really do thank the right hon. Member
for Preseli Pembrokeshire () for securing this debate,
which it is important to have at this time.
This debate gives me the chance to highlight some of the
benefits, from a Scottish perspective, of the development of
ports north of the border, where our green port ethos is centred
on the importance of net zero and the just transition. At the
heart of the Scottish Government’s unique approach to our green
ports is the commitment to the development of renewable
technology, an innovative environment and the promotion of
decarbonisation, alongside the creation of well-paid,
high-quality jobs and skills development.
In that sense, the fair work practices agenda is embedded in our
green ports from the get-go, and progress on freeports and green
ports must be monitored and evaluated to ensure a just
transition. We want to ensure that we make the most of the
skillset we have in Scotland, valuing the existing expertise
across the energy sectors while transitioning from oil and gas to
renewables, and training up the new generation of workers into
high-quality work.
In developing the Scottish green port model, the Scottish
Government were mindful of the more negative aspects of freeports
and their reputation for poor working practices, deregulation,
weak productivity and the lack of real benefits for their
surrounding areas. Instead, in Scotland, we are centring on
sustainability, environmental concerns and fairness to boost
innovation in renewables, and focusing on a prosperous growth
agenda for our local communities based around our ports.
Given everything positive that the hon. Member has said about
freeports in Scotland, does he agree that it is disappointing
that the Scottish Greens, who are in government with his party in
Holyrood, do not support Scotland’s two freeports?
I worked very closely with the Minister, , when the green ports project
was at its inception. We worked with the UK Government at that
time as well, and Mr McKee was very supportive of the whole
concept. There is more I want to say today that might give the
hon. Member a bit more reassurance that we see the green port
opportunity as just that: a real opportunity to develop the
economy of Scotland.
Others have mentioned their own constituencies; I am the Member
for Dunfermline and West Fife, which has one of the two green
ports being developed in Scotland, at Rosyth on the firth of
Forth, along with Leith and Grangemouth. I believe it will be
transformative for the local economy and in trying to meet our
environmental ambitions. The green port will feature a new
freight terminal, offshore renewable manufacturing and green
power generation capacity, skills development opportunities and
new rail connections. The regeneration of this important
logistical port should deliver a huge boost to the local
community, through employment opportunities, and the wider
economy in the surrounding area. It is good for energy security,
good for creating prosperous communities and, importantly, good
for the environment.
The Forth green port aims to bring £6 billion in private and
public investment and will contribute £4 billion in gross value
added. It has the potential to create 50,000 high-quality jobs,
stimulate growth in renewable manufacturing, and develop offshore
wind and various alternative fuel sectors. It will also support
research and development investment and drive business growth for
small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups.
Alongside the development of the green port, I have been
campaigning for a number of years to reinstate the ferry
connection from Rosyth to mainland Europe, which will not only
boost connectivity and trade prospects, but contribute to a
reduction in harmful emissions by reducing both the tourism
carbon footprint and road miles for freight transport. It would
also reduce the pressure on the land bridge ports in the
south-east of England. It is a good example of joined-up thinking
for the climate and for the economy. I hope that the Minister and
his colleagues will open their ears to this plea. The project
currently has a logjam with the border and export authorities in
London. If anything could be done to ease that pain, we could get
ahead and ensure that the ferry service can start as soon as
possible. In the Republic of Ireland, I have seen new ferry
routes helping to boost exports. If Ireland can do it, why not
Scotland?
The second green port will be based at the Inverness and Cromarty
firth—another area steeped in industrial history and now playing
a critical role in offshore wind. The project will place the
highlands at the heart of the drive towards net zero. It will
create 15,000 jobs in the area and a further 10,000 across
Scotland and the rest of the UK, focusing on renewable and
low-carbon energy production. Again, it is good for the economy,
good for creating prosperous communities, and good for the
environment.
Before I draw to a close, it is good to remind colleagues not
just of the benefits of a just transition, but of its true
definition. Scotland’s Just Transition Commission described it as
a process whereby
“Governments design policies in a way that”
benefits the climate change agenda—benefits that are widely
shared—but where
“the costs do not unfairly burden those least able to pay, or
whose livelihoods are directly or indirectly at risk as the
economy shifts and changes.”
I remind Opposition politicians that we are trying to lead on
that in Scotland, but we need to focus on these ambitious climate
and net zero targets to ensure that the just transition actually
happens and remains meaningful.
In conclusion, the Scottish Government are committed to using the
new green ports to attract investment into our economy. In
addition, Scotland has all the potential to be a world-leading
green energy producer, where the jobs, the revenue and the power
rest with Scotland. The maritime sector also has a strong
responsibility and an opportunity to be a key player in that
ambition and to make the managed transition work for everyone.
Between our industry sectors and Government, we can all benefit,
but the message needs to be: let’s just do it.3.43pm
(Manchester, Withington)
(Lab)
It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Cummins.
I congratulate the right hon. Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire
() on securing the debate and
on a very good speech; I agree with most of what he said. It was
also good to hear about the consensus and the joint work on the
Celtic freeport from my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon
(), and about his ambition
for Port Talbot to be at the forefront of the floating offshore
wind industry.
I also enjoyed listening to the hon. Members for Dunfermline and
West Fife (), for Southampton, Itchen
(), for Waveney (), for Cleethorpes () and for Moray (), and it is always good to
hear from the hon. Member for Strangford () about his commitment to net zero. It is clear that
there has been a lot of consensus in the Chamber today. That
demonstrates the strong consensus across the House about the
importance of the green energy transition, and the good jobs and
prosperity that it needs to create—and will create—up and down
the country, particularly for port communities and other places
with a strong industrial heritage, some of which have suffered
economically in recent years, as the right hon. Member for
Preseli Pembrokeshire pointed out.
Ports have a key role to play in helping to decarbonise energy
generation, transport and industry. Their role as bases for the
offshore wind industry and the skilled workforce that many of
them have make them pivotal to the UK’s energy transition. Many
ports are already playing that role with offshore wind and many
more could unlock further power generation from floating offshore
wind and—potentially—hydrogen.
Floating offshore wind is an exciting, pioneering technology,
which allows us to tap into wind power further out at sea where
the winds are stronger and more consistent, but the water is too
deep for regular offshore wind facilities. We need to do
everything we can to maximise the benefits of this industry. As
it stands, there are no port facilities in the country that are
fit for the mass deployment of floating offshore wind. Ports need
investment and upgrading to be able to manufacture and assemble
the components of those turbines and their bases at the required
size, which I believe is up to 150 metres. These are huge pieces
of kit that we need to be able to manufacture and assemble in the
UK.
Crucially for ports, we also need new wind projects—both standard
offshore and floating—to come forward for investment. That is
another reason why the Government’s completely avoidable failure
on offshore wind in the recent contracts for difference round was
so disappointing, with no offshore wind or floating offshore
bids. No new offshore wind projects means £2 billion more on
families’ energy bills and means our energy security will be
weakened.
Ministers were repeatedly warned about the impacts of higher
inflation and setting an unrealistic strike price, but they did
not act. Because of that missed opportunity, we will now be more
dependent on expensive and polluting fossil fuels. Every wind
farm that we fail to build leaves us more exposed to the whims of
petrostates and dictators such as Putin. The Government are
squandering our potential for offshore wind power, just as they
squandered our potential for onshore wind by effectively banning
it for so long. All this has resulted in higher bills, energy
insecurity, fewer jobs and climate failure. Britain’s port
communities and the rest of Britain deserve better.
That is why the next Labour Government will drive forward
offshore and floating wind through major investments to our
ports, providing £1.8 billion over five years to ensure that we
can construct, manufacture, deploy and maintain offshore wind and
marine renewables from UK harbours. This would be the biggest
investment in our ports for decades, benefiting communities in
Wales, Scotland and across the UK.
We will establish a national wealth fund. This will be a new
strategic body to ensure that when public money is spent on
building British businesses, the British people will benefit from
the long-term return that those investments produce. That will
ensure that the whole country benefits from the wealth and talent
that are created in our nation, so that with every investment,
jobs and economic benefits flow into our communities and the
British people benefit from the return on those investments.
A Labour Government will invest to drive forward projects that
are necessary to the energy transition and our industrial future,
crowding in further private investment in crucial infrastructure.
GB Energy will be able to de-risk new energy technologies,
helping to speed up and scale up development in areas such as
green hydrogen and floating offshore wind. With a target to
achieve clean power by 2030, and making, buying and selling more
in Britain, GB Energy will overturn the stagnation and offshoring
of British jobs and manufacturing that have been caused by the
neglect of the British wind power industry.
Industry is calling out for more support and more certainty so
that it can make the long-term decisions to develop
infrastructure and ensure that we have the critical capacity
necessary to deliver our ambition for clean power. Industry will
get that with Labour. The current Government are progressing
FLOWMIS—the floating offshore wind manufacturing investment
scheme—with up to £160 million of grant funding for port
infrastructure, which is small change really, in relation to
manufacturing facilities, and which will be inadequate without
serious strategic investment in our nation’s ports, so that they
are big enough and advanced enough for the most cutting-edge
technologies. Compare that with Labour’s £1.8 billion commitment.
Like others here, we want to see the money reaching ports, where
it can make the most difference to jobs and power generation.
Will the Minister confirm when the awards will be made? Will it
be enough to reach 5 GW of capacity by 2030? Owing to the
Government’s handling of contracts for difference, we are
understandably sceptical. On that point, will he outline his
plans to recover the progress that we need to make on offshore
wind, following the massive setback of CfD 5? Expanding offshore
and delivering strategic port upgrades will be crucial for a
renaissance of green jobs and opportunity in those communities.
We want those port communities to be successful. Labour is
committed to delivering that. I look forward to hearing from the
Minister.3.49pm
The Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero ()
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Cummins. I
begin by thanking and congratulating my right hon. Friend the
Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire () on securing this important
debate. We have heard high-class contributions from pretty much
every person who has spoken so far. I will return, if I have
time, to the trite and empty remarks—which were perhaps written
by others—from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for
Manchester, Withington ().
Just by way of context, it is worth highlighting the record,
because track records should count for something. Less than 7% of
our electricity came from renewables in 2010. That was the dire
inheritance of this Government. It was the CfDs developed and
delivered by this Government that transformed the economics of
offshore wind and which led us from the Labour record of less
than 7% to nearly half in the first quarter of this year. We have
gone from a desperate legacy, where nearly 40% of our electricity
came from coal—the filthiest of fossil fuels—as recently as 2012
to that being eliminated next year under this Conservative
Government. It is this Conservative Government who have led the
world. We have cut emissions more than any other major economy on
earth and grown our economy significantly at the same time.
We heard about crowding in private investment, Great British
Energy and writing cheques, which is the last thing we need. We
have heard that from Labour before, yet every Labour Government
in history have ended with unemployment higher than it was at the
beginning, when they started. They all offer hope and cheques for
all, promises of huge support and endless taxpayer subsidy, which
will deliver nirvana. Nirvana has never been delivered by
Labour—not a green one and not any other kind. I said that bit
would come at the end, but I had to indulge myself and do it at
the beginning.
As has been said by everyone here today, ports are so important
to unlocking the green revolution. As colleague after colleague
have highlighted, from the Humber to Wales to Scotland, the
southern North sea and Northern Ireland, ports have an enormous
contribution to make to economic regeneration. The fact that we
are blessed with this phenomenal renewable energy opportunity in
the UK—which this Government, uniquely and unlike the previous,
are committed to unlocking—means that we can turn levelling up
from an excellent concept into genuine delivery. The previously
highly carbon-dependent areas of this country are the very areas
that genuinely need that, and they are best set to benefit from
it. Their ports are what will make that possible.
I recognise the importance of existing port activity in south
Wales in securing the UK’s and indeed Europe’s energy supply.
Last year, rather than being, as in the previous year, a net
importer of a billion cubic metres of gas, we moved to being an
exporter of 19 billion cubic metres of gas, making a significant
contribution to storage in Europe and the energy security of an
entire continent. A lot of that came through south Wales. Of
course, it is the two LNG terminals in the constituency of my
right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire, on the
Milford Haven waterway, that helped to deliver that. Looking
forward, the success of the Celtic freeport bid, covering Milford
Haven and Port Talbot, demonstrates the opportunity to unlock
investment and therefore growth for the south Wales area and
delivering those high-paid, long-term jobs that so many
colleagues on the Government side of the House not only talked
about, but have a history of delivering.
The right port infrastructure is vital to deliver offshore wind
and other renewables, as part of our transition to net zero. Big
though the energy business, carbon capture and related things
are, perhaps the biggest opportunity here is what all this will
facilitate. When we took on the COP presidency, just 30% of
global GDP had made net zero pledges. By the time the presidency
was handed on by the UK to Egypt, that figure stood at more than
90%. The world is following. If we create among the world’s first
genuine net zero industrial clusters, the inward investment that
will come—into non-directly energy-related, yet still
energy-dependent businesses, as every business is—could be quite
phenomenal. That is why colleagues are right to share their
excitement and why my right hon. Friend the Member for Preseli
Pembrokeshire is right, again and again—alongside, as always, the
hon. Member for Strangford ()—to come here and enthuse about the importance of
this and the opportunity it brings.
The Government’s policies, as set out in the British energy
security strategy and endorsed in “Powering Up Britain” earlier
this year, include bold new commitments, so that we can
supercharge clean energy and accelerate renewable energy
deployment. The Government set an ambition of 50 GW of offshore
wind by 2030, up from just 14 GW today. The UK has the largest
offshore wind sector in Europe and is home to all four of the
largest offshore wind farms in the world. As part of that
ambition, we are aiming for up to 5 GW of floating offshore wind.
Colleagues have rightly highlighted the importance of ports to
that, given the gargantuan scale of the products that will be
required. Ports will play a vital part.
Colleagues have raised the issue of ensuring that we maximise the
industrial heft and capability from this sector, which is why we
are looking at reviewing the contracts for difference scheme and
improving it with non-financial factors and other ways of
encouraging industrial development.
The hon. Member for Aberavon () asked me what work we
could do with the Crown Estate. The first thing is to work super
closely with it, which we do. We are backed by colleagues from
His Majesty’s Treasury, and it has been great to see how we can
work together co-operatively to unlock this. As part of the
tender for the offshore wind leasing round 5 in the Celtic sea,
the Crown Estate will require floating wind developers to set out
specific commitments to ports, as well as binding commitments on
wider issues such as enhancing skills, addressing environmental
impacts and delivering community benefits. I hope that that
answers the hon. Gentleman’s reasonable question.
During my summing up, I mentioned the ferry terminal from Rosyth
to Europe. The Minister has brought in other issues such as
skills, training and so on, but the other thing that we should
think about is our ports for exports and ferry services. I
noticed that he made a note that he would contact his colleagues
at border control—that is a complete roadblock at the moment—to
make sure that the ferry service can go ahead and be a
success.
I certainly sympathise with the Scottish Government’s troubles
and challenges with ferries. As the hon. Gentleman suggests,
through my officials I will pass on that message to other
Departments to facilitate that. Anything we can do to help, we
will seek to do.
Will the Minister give way?
I will not.
The offshore renewable energy catapult has estimated that
floating offshore wind could deliver more than £40 billion for
our economy by 2050, creating about 30,000 jobs in the process.
We are moving at pace to deliver those benefits, with more than
25 GW of floating wind projects with confirmed seabed
exclusivity—the most in the world. The last thing we need to
introduce into the excellent track record and system for bringing
in private sector investment from all over the world—which we are
proud of—is Labour’s plans for Great British Energy clunking into
a carefully calibrated set of market mechanisms. That will have
exactly the opposite effect of the objectives that the shadow
Minister, the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington, set
out.
Going further, the Crown Estate has announced its plans to hold a
seabed leasing round in the Celtic sea, capable of supporting up
to a further 4.5 GW, as we have heard. We also understand the
importance to investors of certainty on a long-term leasing
pipeline. If they can see the scale, we can get large-scale
investment. We are acutely aware of that issue and are working
closely with the Crown Estate and with other Government
Departments. We must ensure that the multiple uses of our seas
are thoroughly considered, so that we can then provide the
visibility to unlock investments in ports, which will then unlock
further investment.
The Government recognise the critical role that ports will play
in achieving our green energy ambitions and the importance of
securing investment in the infrastructure. They will also be a
big enabler for offshore wind and a catalyst for wider supply
chain development.
rose—
I think I am about to be cut off. Are we finishing at 4 pm?
(in the Chair)
No, we have until 4.15 pm.
Then I would be delighted to give way.
I am sure that the Minister is absolutely delighted that the
voting interruption has given us some additional time. He was
talking about floating offshore wind infrastructure. I do not
know if he is coming to this, but I asked about grid capacity.
There are real concerns that there will not be the grid capacity
to facilitate all this, which is having an impact on developers’
thinking, too. What comments does he have on that?
I thank the hon. Gentleman for another excellent and well-made
point. One of the biggest challenges facing my Department is
ensuring that we have the facilitating infrastructure. No matter
how interesting the generation is—nuclear, floating, fixed-bed,
onshore, offshore—it does not really matter if the electrons
cannot get where they need to. That is why we commissioned the
Winser review on transmission, and I am really grateful to him
for his work. We are going to be reporting back on that as soon
as we can. We are working closely with National Grid and others
to speed up the extraordinarily long times it takes to put that
infrastructure in place. The hon. Member for Aberavon was right
to say that if we want to realise our Celtic sea ambitions or our
other ambitions around the UK, we need the facilitating
infrastructure.
More locally, we are also focused on connections. We will shortly
be coming out with a connections plan, because we have queues
filled with projects that may never go ahead. We need to find
ways to deal with that legally and properly. We now have a
dedicated Minister for Nuclear and Networks, precisely because we
recognise the challenge. The hon. Member for Aberavon is right to
highlight that. We are working flat out on it and it is probably
our top priority.
On the important issue that the hon. Member for Aberavon () raised about the grid, is
the Minister aware of any specific work by National Grid looking
at the grid needs of ports, so that we know which UK ports are
going to be energy ports? We can predict where those locations
are going to be and we can see activity already happening. Is
National Grid doing a piece of work to map the grid requirements
of the next 20 to 30 years and put together plans for individual
port locations?
One recommendation of the Winser report was that we pull together
a much more coherent overall spatial plan. In previous years,
things were done on a fairly linear basis, as we have seen in
East Anglia. We have been taking steps through the holistic
network design—not necessarily the best title—in phases simply to
ensure that we have a more strategic and joined-up approach. We
cannot do it project by project; we have to plan the whole thing
out. We want to take it from a regional basis to a national
basis. Further information will be set out by the Government.
We are working with our European neighbours. I spoke to the
German ambassador only this morning about the fact that all of us
around the North sea need to think and work together on a common
basis. If we do so, we will be better able to realise the huge
opportunities in the surrounding seas, do so at the lowest
possible cost and maximise European energy security and the jobs
and benefits that spring from doing that work.
For floating offshore wind specifically, the industry road map
2040, developed by the floating offshore wind taskforce,
identified the need for up to 11 ports across the UK to support
the roll-out of commercial-scale floating offshore wind. That is
a significant opportunity for the years to come. To support the
industry, the Government launched the £160 million floating
offshore wind manufacturing investment scheme, which the shadow
Minister, the hon. Member for Manchester, Withington, asked about
in one of the much more reasonable comments in his speech. We are
doing everything we can to bring the timing of that forward and
do the assessment, and I hope that we will be able to announce
the next stage—due diligence—before the end of this year, but
that is tight.
In the coming years, the UK and other countries will
exponentially increase their offshore wind deployment in the
North sea, the Celtic sea and across a range of new markets. We
signed a memorandum of understanding with countries surrounding
the North sea in the week before Christmas last year about our
rejoining the North Seas Energy Co-operation forum, and we will
be having another ministerial next month to ensure that we are
working closely together.
We will work with industry, through RenewableUK and the Offshore
Wind Industry Council, to assess supply chain needs, which so
many colleagues have rightly raised, and to identify the
opportunities for the UK to lead and benefit from sustainable
growth in the industry, including through building new export
opportunities. As a former exports Minister, I recognise that by
leaning in ahead as we have done—we have cut our emissions more
than any other country on earth—and developing the technologies
and solutions, we then have the long-term opportunity to export
it. If we can capture more than enough of that energy to meet our
own needs, we can export it directly. We could also convert it
into green hydrogen, and we can export that. We can also bring in
the carbon that will still necessarily be emitted by certain
industries and our western European neighbours and put that into
the 78 gigatonnes of capacity we have in the North sea. There is
so much to be done here, and it can make such a difference: it
can bring about the renaissance of industry in the north-east and
north-west of England, in Scotland, in Wales and in Northern
Ireland, as well as all around the country. It is a very exciting
thing.
As I said, ports are not just important for offshore wind. They
will also play a key role for carbon capture and storage,
supporting the decarbonisation of emitters. Maritime shipping
will play a key role, linking emissions captured from the
dispersed sites with offshore CO2 storage sites. Import and
export ports across the UK that can handle large volumes of
CO2will be required to facilitate the transport and storage of
CO2via ships. We heard about the plans for the Humber and
elsewhere, indeed including on the south coast as mentioned in
the brilliant, albeit short, speech by my hon. Friend the Member
for Southampton, Itchen ().
On hydrogen, the Government recognise that port infrastructure
will have a big role to play. We have a target of 10 GW of
low-carbon production by 2030. As the hydrogen economy matures
and the UK exploits export opportunities, we will need the right
port infrastructure to accommodate large transport ships bringing
in or taking away hydrogen, and we are determined to seize those
opportunities for the UK economy. It is so important that we do
not have an Administration who would do the exact opposite—and
who have a track record of that.
Offshore wind champion Tim Pick has highlighted some of the
obstacles that need to be overcome for the industry to realise
its full potential. Some of that focuses on ports. Will the
Minister provide a bit more detail on the Government’s response
to his proposals and recommendations?
We are working with industry through the Offshore Wind Industry
Council, of which I am a co-chair, to consider Tim Pick’s
wide-ranging recommendations, including developing an industry
growth plan. Again, this is to do with supporting the development
of the UK supply chain and, as we do this massive deployment,
trying to ensure that as much as possible of the industrial heft
of that can be delivered through the UK and UK jobs. That work is
ongoing, and we will keep going.
The hon. Member for Strangford will be aware that Northern
Ireland has a target for 1 GW of offshore wind from 2030. SBM
Offshore and Simply Blue are developing FLOW projects in Northern
Ireland. Likewise, Simply Blue is developing the Erebus project
in the Celtic sea.
I was asked about meetings. Notwithstanding any transport and
logistical challenges, I would be delighted to come to Wales. I
must pay tribute once again to my right hon. Friend the Member
for Preseli Pembrokeshire, who is relentless, albeit always
cheerful and well-considered, in promoting the need for
understanding and engagement with his part of the world and the
opportunities that offers for the whole of the UK in contributing
to the global challenge on climate change and, most importantly,
in delivering a more prosperous and better future for
constituents in his part of the world. Thank you, Mrs Cummins,
for chairing the debate.
4.08pm
Thank you, Mrs Cummins, for your excellent chairing. I thank all
colleagues who participated in what I thought was a useful,
practical and good-natured debate. I always come away from these
things having learned quite a lot about what is going on in
different parts of the country. Really exciting things linked to
renewable energy are happening in so many different port
communities around the UK. We hope that that continues to go from
strength to strength.
I really appreciated the winding-up remarks of the Minister, who
always speaks with intelligence and passion. He really believes
in what he talks about, and I know that he is engaged with
industry, the Crown Estate and other stakeholders to try to make
this vision a reality. I look forward to welcoming him to the
port of Milford Haven in a matter of weeks, whenever we can get
it arranged. That would be hugely welcome.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered the contribution of ports to green
energy.
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