HC Deb 31 January 2000 vol 343 c415W
Mrs. Brinton

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the economic(a) advantages and (b) disadvantages of a public support scheme for solar electricity such as that which operates in Germany. [107480]

Mrs. Liddell

I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given to the hon. Member for Blaby (Mr. Robathan) on 27 January 2000,Official Report, column 290W.

Mrs. Brinton

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry which solar photovoltaic applications can be connected to the national grid via a regular socket; what statutory powers apply to such connections; and what assessment he has made of their potential contribution to meeting the Government's target of achieving 10 per cent. of electricity supply from renewable sources by 2010. [107479]

Mrs. Liddell

Under the Electricity Supply Regulations 1988 (SI 1057 and amendments), "no person may operate a generating plan in parallel with a Regional Electricity Company's (REC's) [Public Electricity Supplier's (PES' s)] system without the written agreement of the REC [PES]". This includes small PV generators connected to a socket outlet.

Technical requirements for connection of embedded generators are covered by Engineering Recommendation G59—"Recommendations for the Connection of Embedded Generating Plant to the Regional Electricity Companies' Distribution Systems"—published by the Electricity Association. Following discussions between the electrical supply and photovoltaic industries, we understand that the Electricity Association are shortly to publish a draft Engineering Recommendation G77—"UK Technical Guidelines for Inverter Connected Single-Phase Photovoltaic (PV) Generators up to 5kVA". In both documents it is implied that a fixed connection should be made from the embedded generator to an appropriate connection point at, or leading to, the distribution system.

With respect to the second part of the question, I refer my hon. Friend to a recent assessment by my Department. This has been reported in "New & Renewable Energy: Prospects in the UK for the 21st Century. Supporting Analysis. March 1999. ETSU R-122". We have not carried out any specific assessment looking at PV systems connected to socket outlets.