§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what assessment she has made of whether large-scale wind farm development will affect the risk of large-scale electricity blackouts, with particular reference to more remote parts of the U K; [152550]
(2) what assessment she has made of the impact of large-scale intermittent windpower generation on the operation of conventional back-up; [152552]
(3) what assessment she has made of the risks to security and stability of supply from (a) large-scale intermittent windpower generation and (b) the diseconomy of part-time operation of conventional back-up. [152553]
§ Mr. TimmsExisting electricity trading arrangements incentives market participants to deliver secure supplies and to manage the effects of intermittent generation, along with other risks, in so doing. Our proposals for BETTA will ensure that market participants in all parts of Great Britain face a uniform set of trading arrangements.
Analysis carried out as part of the White Paper process shows that the electricity system could cope with an increasing reliance on renewable generation, including wind. The White Paper analysis also highlights that as the proportion of intermittent generation increases, so does the cost of maintaining stable supplies. These costs need to be managed and new ways found to minimise them. We are already funding research into this through the DTIs Renewable Energy programme and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's SUPERGEN programme. In addition, as part of our current capital grant programme we allocated in 2002 an additional £4 million to facilitate the demonstration of new control, storage and metering technologies.
1099WDTI and Ofgem will continue to monitor electricity security issues through the Joint Electricity Security of Supply working group (JESS).