The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, on how many occasions and relating to which locations proposals for overground cables between onshore windfarms and the connecting sub-station have been rejected in each of the last 10 years.
Michael Fallon
The Department has not rejected any applications for overhead line connections to onshore windfarms in the past 10 years in England and Wales.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will take steps to ensure that onshore windfarm developers take into account the costs of (a) overground cables and (b) underground cables between a windfarm and its sub-station when taking decisions on laying such cables.
Michael Fallon
Onshore windfarm developers already take into account the costs of different connection options as part of their commercial decisions. In addition, developers submitting applications for nationally significant infrastructure proposals are required to consider alternative options for connections, including undergrounding and routes, as part of the planning consent process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether his Department makes funding available for onshore windfarm operators to place cables underground between the windfarm and the connecting sub-station.
Michael Fallon
The Department does not make specific funding available to generators for placing their cables underground. However, network infrastructure costs have been factored into Government decisions on levels of support for onshore windfarms such as the Renewables Obligation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what length of cables between onshore windfarms and connecting sub-stations has been placed (a) above ground and (b) underground in each of the last five years.
Michael Fallon
The Department does not hold this information. Windfarms usually own the cables connecting them to substations. Gathering the information requested would, therefore, require contacting individual windfarm developers at a disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many onshore windfarms have been connected to sub-stations in each of the last five years.
Michael Fallon
According to Renewable-UK Wind Energy Database the following numbers of onshore wind projects have been connected in Great Britain over the past five years. The vast majority of these projects contained five or fewer turbines. The Department does not hold data on what, if any, connections to substations were required.
|
Year |
Number of Projects |
|
2014 |
34 |
|
2013 |
73 |
|
2012 |
109 |
|
2011 |
48 |
|
2010 |
43 |
Further details of these onshore wind projects are available at:
http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/uk-wind-energy-database/index.cfm
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, in which locations cables between onshore windfarms and connecting sub-stations have been placed completely underground in each of the last 10 years.
Michael Fallon
The Department does not hold this information. Windfarms usually own the cables connecting them to substations. Gathering the information requested would, therefore, require contacting individual windfarm developers at a disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment his Department has made of potential health risks arising from (a) above-ground and (b) underground electricity cables which connect onshore windfarms to sub-stations.
Michael Fallon
Public Health England (PHE) is advisor on potential health risks from above ground or underground electricity cables. Government policy, based on advice from PHE, is that the 1998 International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines on public exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) are applied in terms of the 1999 EU Council Recommendation on limiting exposure of the general public (1999/519/EC). PHE remains the focus of UK expertise in such matters and keeps the scientific evidence relevant to EMF exposures under review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made by his Department’s Justice for Vulnerable Road Users Working Group.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Justice for Vulnerable Road Users group is a sub-group of the Cycling Stakeholder Forum. It includes representatives from the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Metropolitan Police, Crown Prosecution Service, Sentencing Council, CTC, British Cycling and RoadPeace. The next meeting is scheduled for later this month.
The remit of the group is set out in a terms of reference agreed by the membership. The group has recently looked into whether it would be possible to link data to see how many fatal road traffic accidents have resulted into convictions and this will most likely be discussed at the forthcoming meeting. Many of the other concerns of the Group should be covered in the forthcoming Ministry of Justice Review of Motoring Offences.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-06-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on the recent destruction of fruit trees at the Tent of Nations farm on the West Bank.
Hugh Robertson
We have not raised this specific issue with the Israeli authorities. However, we repeatedly make clear to the Israeli authorities our serious concerns about continued demolitions of Palestinian property and the need to abide by their other obligations under international law. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised the issue of demolitions in general on 28 May with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dominic Raab on 2014-06-04.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding for the extraction of North Sea oil has come from (a) the Government, (b) the Scottish Executive and (c) the private sector in each of the last 20 years.
Michael Fallon
I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change.
Government departments and agencies, including notably the Department of Energy and Climate Change and its predecessor departments, have for many years supported research aimed at identifying UK hydrocarbon potential and finding ways of finding and extracting it more cost-effectively. Comprehensive records of the amount spent on such activities by year across Government are not available.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change does not have detailed information on the annual expenditure of the Scottish Executive.
Estimates of total annual pre-tax expenditure in £ billions by the private sector on finding and developing UK hydrocarbons (oil and gas, in the North Sea as well as elsewhere in the UK and on the UK Continental Shelf) for the period 1994–2013 are given in the table below. More detailed information through to 2012 is available online at:
https://www.gov.uk/oil-and-gas-uk-field-data#ukcs-income-and-expenditure.
|
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
|
8.5 |
9.4 |
9.4 |
9.6 |
9.9 |
7.8 |
7.5 |
8.3 |
8.6 |
8.2 |
|
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
8.4 |
9.9 |
12.0 |
12.4 |
13.1 |
13.3 |
14.9 |
18.3 |
21.8 |
25.8 |
“