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01 December 2011

Written ministerial statement on the carbon plan… 01 December 2011 The Government is today publishing the Carbon Plan, setting out the Government's long–term plans to meet its carbon targets, including the fourth carbon budget set earlier this year. The plan shows how doing so will set us on a plau…

01 December 2011

Charles Hendry Written Ministerial Statement on nuclear energy matters… 01 December 2011 The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will today publish two documents that further demonstrate the Government's commitment to managing our existing nuclear legacy and sites in a responsible manner. the conclusio…

30 November 2011

Charles Hendry speech to the Smart Metering Forum… Wednesday 30th November 2011 Taking the Foundation Stage forward: an update on the government's plans for the Smart Metering Implementation Programme …

30 November 2011

Chris Huhne opens UK’s first Carbon Capture plant… UK carbon capture and storage technology took a major step forward as Energy Secretary Chris Huhne launched a flagship test programme in Yorkshire today. The project – worth more than £20million – is a partnership between industry partners Sco…

29 November 2011

PM backs wind investment drive… Investment funds, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds are among groups today being asked to join the UK's renewable energy revolution and invest in large offshore wind projects. At a conference in London, Ministers will meet potential investors…

26 November 2011

Durban must build on what Kyoto began: Chris Huhne article in the Telegraph… A year ago, in a swirl of pessimism, the UN held negotiations on climate change in Cancun. After Copenhagen, it seemed that the principles of international cooperation itself were on trial. Expectations were low. But out of the acrimony arose a new c…

25 November 2011

Putting Energy Red Tape Under the Spotlight… Energy Minister Charles Hendry today urged business, green groups and members of the public to help identify ineffective, burdensome or unnecessary regulation as part of the Government's Red Tape Challenge. DECC has challenging aims to deliver – to …

25 November 2011

Renewable Heat Incentive to open for applications… Businesses and communities across Britain will from Monday be able to apply for a heat tariff payment, ushering in a new era of clean green heat technology, Greg Barker said today. The world's first Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) will be open to app…

24 November 2011

£200m funding boost for Green Deal… pound;200m of new and additional Government funding has today been announced to provide a special time–limited ‘introductory' offer to boost the early take up of the Government's Green Deal energy efficiency scheme. With bills rising because …

24 November 2011

Marine projects must get off drawing board and into the water - Hendry… The UK's ambitious marine energy revolution could be further enhanced by support and cooperation at an international level, Energy Minister Charles Hendry said today. His call came as EU member states published a report calling for funding and suppor…

24 November 2011

Chris Huhne speech to the Grantham Institute in advance of the COP17 Summit in Durban… Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be here, at the spiritual home of climate realism.  The invitation to today's event says the Fourth Carbon Budget will be ‘a defining issue for British industry in the medium term'. Strong stuff. And…

24 November 2011

Energy statistics - statistical press release… As part of the Government's commitment to be open and accountable to the public and to support local authorities and other users in understanding and comparing data, DECC has today released:  a series of interactive maps that sh…

23 November 2011

2011 Annual Energy Statement… Mr Speaker, with permission I would like to make a statement on our energy policy. This fulfils a commitment made in the Coalition Agreement. In describing the progress we have made, and the policies underway, it also honours one of the Coalition's …

23 November 2011

Homes and economy to benefit from energy and climate policies - Huhne… .£14 billion worth of private sector investment in home energy improvements over the next decade will help insulate households from rising global energy prices and create thousands of jobs in the British insulation and construction sector, Chri…

23 November 2011

Chris Huhne letter to Lord Lawson and Lord Turnbull… Further to my letter to Lord Lawson of August this year, I have now had chance to consider in greater detail your Global Warming Policy Foundation paper The Really Inconvenient Truth or “It Ain't Necessarily so”. As this paper criticises …

21 November 2011

Letter from Chris Huhne to The Guardian… Dear Sir, Your article, “Rich Nations ‘give up' on new climate treaty until 2020” (Monday 21st November), is a wholesale misrepresentation of the UK's position. The UK would like to see a global treaty signed straight away but th…

21 November 2011

Chris Huhne's statement on the Centrica/Statoil deal… Centrica has this morning announced a £13bn deal with Norwegian gas company Statoil, which will last ten years. The deal will secure delivery of 5 billion cubic meters per year from 2015 to 2025 to the UK market. Chris Huhne, Secretary of…

18 November 2011

Keep warm this winter… Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker is today calling on pensioners and those on low incomes to make sure they've claimed for the help to which they're entitled to keep warm this winter. The Government's Warm Front scheme provides grants t…

17 November 2011

Charles Hendry speech to the National Offshore Wind Association of Ireland Annual Conference… 15 November 2011, Dublin Check against delivery Thank you for inviting me to your conference today. I'm delighted to have been given this opportunity to say a few words to this gathering of leading figures in Ireland's energy sector. The energy …

17 November 2011

Winners of green heating competition revealed… Twenty–four social housing providers across Britain have been awarded a share of a £4 million fund to install green heating systems in the homes of their tenants. They are the first winners to be announced under the Renewable Heat Premium …

15 November 2011

John Ashton article in the Guardian, Climate change: there is no plan B… 14 November 2011 Time is almost up. It is critical we secure a legally binding approach on climate change in Durban The lesson the world is learning the hard way from the financial crisis is that there is only one boat and we are all in it. To stay…

09 November 2011

Chris Huhne article on shale gas for the Daily Telegraph… Two months ago, an unlisted energy company released an initial estimate of UK shale gas reserves. Cue protesters picketing my department, and suggestions that Britain should tear down its wind farms and move the pound to a mythical “shale stand…

08 November 2011

Charles Hendry's Written Ministerial Statement on the statutory Security of Supply report … I have today laid before Parliament the 2011 Statutory Security of Supply Report (SSSR), which has been produced jointly with Ofgem and with input from National Grid. The report is a technical document that provides factual information to the market …

08 November 2011

Huhne asks Ofgem to report on longer term gas security… Energy regulator Ofgem has been asked by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to look into whether further action is needed to ensure that medium– to long–term gas supplies for consumers remain secure. In the short term, gas supplies a…

04 November 2011

Shell Gannet field update: SOSREP announces successful removal of gas from pipeline… Further to the update issued on 30 September 2011, this is a statement by Mr Hugh Shaw, the Secretary of State's Representative (SOSREP) for Maritime Salvage and Intervention, who was appointed by the UK Government to oversee the operation: "I …

03 November 2011

Greg Barker's article in the New Statesman… Gone are the days of governments banging on about the green economy divorced from the challenges facing the rest of business and without any reference to what was happening in the real economy. The truth is that businesses – especially small and med…

03 November 2011

Appointment of Claire Thomas as DECC Non-Executive Director… 03 November 2011 The Secretary of State has today appointed Claire Thomas as a Non–Executive Director for DECC for a period of two years from 1 January 2012.  Claire will join the Department's existing Non–Executive Directors Paul Walsh and Ro…

02 November 2011

Cuadrilla’s geomechanical study on Shale Gas: Statement by Charles Hendry… ldquo;The potential for unconventional gas is worth exploring because of the additional security of supply and economic benefits it could provide. But it is important to stress it is very early days for shale gas in the UK – the scale of any possibl…

31 October 2011

Reappointment of the Chair of the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board… Press Notice Ref: 2011/092 31 October 2011 Lady Janet Balfour of Burleigh has been reappointed as Chair of the Nuclear Liabilities Financing Assurance Board (NLFAB) for a second term of office.  The role of the NLFAB is to ensure that opera…

31 October 2011

Britain's solar energy boom is built on unsustainable foundations (Guardian article by Greg Barker)… You can't miss Britain's solar energy boom. Solar panels generating electricity adorn tens of thousands of British homes, providing clean green energy. But the uncomfortable truth is that, with overgenerous subsidies failing to keep pace with plummet…

31 October 2011

Gregory Barker's Written Ministerial Statement on the Feed-in Tariffs consultation… Today I am publishing a consultation paper on proposed changes to Feed–in Tariffs (FITs) for solar photovoltaics (PV).  The consultation will close on 23 December 2011.   Since the FITs scheme started it has been successful in encoura…

31 October 2011

Barker: Boom and bust for solar must be avoided… Urgent action is needed to put the solar industry on a steadier, clearer and sustainable growth path, avoid boom and bust and protect the wider Feed–in Tariff scheme (FITs), Greg Barker said today. Reduced subsidies for domestic solar electricity pr…

31 October 2011

New power stations bring jobs to Yorkshire… Ministers today gave the go–ahead for two new power stations in Yorkshire that will create over 1,000 jobs and generate enough energy to power almost two million homes. The consented plants are: Ferrybridge – a 108 MW Multifuel (biomass and e…

28 October 2011

Nuclear security mission to Sellafield and Barrow completed… A team of nuclear security experts led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has visited the UK to assess civil nuclear security arrangements. This follows a commitment made in advance of President Obama's Nuclear Security Summit in April …

27 October 2011

Greg Barker’s Speech for Solar Power UK … 27 October 2011  Check Against Delivery SCENE SETTING Five years ago I wrote Power to the People. A pamphlet urging a radical shift to a far more decentralised local energy economy. A shift away from the dominance of a few energy giants to…

26 October 2011

Chris Huhne's speech to the Renewable UK Conference… I'm delighted to be here today, at Renewable UK's annual conference. Our location is rather appropriate. Manchester was the thumping heart of the industrial revolution. This was the world's first industrial city. It is home to the first industrial c…

26 October 2011

Huhne to make the case for renewables… In an outspoken attack on “green economy deniers”, Chris Huhne will today put the spotlight on the economic benefits to Britain of investing in green energy. He will point to more than a hundred announcements in this financial …

25 October 2011

UK and Norway sign historic energy agreement… Energy ministers from Norway and the United Kingdom today signed a joint agreement to co–operate further on renewables, oil and gas and the use of technology such as carbon capture and storage, to ensure energy security and manage emissions. UK Ener…