Dickson Speaks in Support of the Small-Scale Green Energy Bill

**Alliance's Green New Deal is available here.**

Stewart's speech in support of the Small-Scale Green Energy Bill is detailed in full below.

Thank you Mr Speaker, I welcome the opportunity to speak on the principles of his Bill, which I and the Alliance Party support. So I thank the Member from bringing this legislation forward.

We should not be too bashful to say that Northern Ireland has had excellent success in the past with growing renewables. We now see over half of our generation coming from renewable sources, chiefly wind.

However, it has become abundantly clear, that humanity is not moving fast enough to tackle greenhouse gases, and the climate crisis that is resulting. Clean energy represents a major opportunity for jobs and to provide sustainable and clean sources of heat and electricity. Northern Ireland is missing out, due to a lack of ambition.

Alliance believes we need a Green New Deal for our whole society to accelerate the transition to a clean economy, including building the skills base we need, eliminating fuel poverty and ensuring no-one is left behind.

One of the key parts of this Green New Deal, is microgeneration. Decentralising our power system, and in a way, democratising it.

We have all watched with horror at the sharply increasing prices for especially natural gas over the past few weeks.

I think this will be a particularly difficult winter for many vulnerable households, and the Communities Minister will need to be proactive to prevent a major rebound in fuel poverty.

But with greater indigenous microgeneration, we can become much less dependent on imported fossil fuels and thus better insulated from the swings of world markets. Indeed, households themselves can become energy independent.

Turning to the Bill itself it will essentially establish a small-scale green energy scheme with minimum tariffs for micro generators, giving certainty to plan and reward for generating renewable electricity and contributing to the grid. My understanding is that a similar system has operated in GB for more than ten years, yet unfortunately Northern Ireland has missed out on this.

I believe there is demand here, we just need to provide the financial incentive for the installation of solar panels, or small-scale turbines etc. This could be a major step change in how our power is generated, hopefully also providing for more resilience.

I note that in Clause 1 the Scheme will also set targets for energy suppliers to have a specified percentage of microgenerated electricity. Which I am not opposed to, as I think it would be helpful for the suppliers to have a real investment in promoting the scheme, but think the Committee should look into how this specifically would run, and ultimately be enforced.

I welcome provisions in Clause 2 and 3 that require the Department consult other bodies and review the operation of the scheme. This however relates to one of my major concerns in regards to the Department for the Economy – its capacity to deliver on energy policy, and ultimately the upcoming Energy Strategy.

The recent University of Exeter report into the Green transition made a number of recommendations, which from what I can see have been almost totally disregarded by DfE.

If we are to deliver on our clean energy ambitions we need a Department that is ambitious and actively leading in this area, with expertise and policy on energy, climate and fuel poverty in one place, and an Executive Minister advocating for it. That is why the Alliance Green New Deal calls for a specific Department for Energy and Climate Change to drive forward the transition to clean energy in Northern Ireland.

I have been somewhat disappointed by the lack of ambition shown by DfE, but I do recognise civil servants are working hard on the Energy Strategy. Unfortunately, Departmental silos are more of an issue in Northern Ireland as well and to make legislation like this as successful as possible, I believe one energy and climate change department is needed.

The spectre of the RHI disaster haunts this place, and we must never forget it. Clause 4 sensibly speaks to this by to allow for suspension of the scheme were ‘unintended or harmful consequences’ are emerging. Or where urgent action is needed to control the operation of the scheme.

I note that there also will not be a major public cost anticipated, as it will be the private energy suppliers paying microgenerators. Of course there will be administration costs to be considered and in this very strained time for public finances, we must always recognise this.

Clause 5 allows the Department to give guidance about the operation of the scheme. Perhaps the Member could outline where he sees the Utility Regulator coming in, in regards to this legislation. As experts in

the setting of prices etc., and energy itself. I understand that there is a fair amount here that will be delegated to the Department by way of regulation, and the Committee itself can also investigate.

Decentralising our energy grid will have greater benefits by bringing energy generation to the local. So it would be remiss of me not to note the potential contribution of local organisations to the microgeneration landscape including cooperatives and social enterprises.

As Chair of the All Party Group, I believe that these local organisations could have a major role to play not only in promoting microgeneration, but also generating themselves from premises, and reinvesting. How we can involve local community groups, coops and social enterprises for me will also be a key consideration, and I hope we can consider this further, along with the proposer, at Committee Stage.

In closing Mr Speaker, I welcome the legislation, and thank the member for bringing it forward given the lack of action from the Department.

So I look forward to considering the Bill in more detail at Committee. However, I as I have outlined I do believe that much more concerted action on insulation and wider fuel poverty needs to be taken to ensure that this can reach its full potential.