Speaking in London last night, Caroline Flint said renewable gas was a “big overlooked area” and could tackle the issues of energy security, affordability and climate change.
Flint added if Labour won the general election, they would commission the Committee on Climate Change, with National Grid, to report by the end of 2015 with advice and recommendations on reforms needed “to maximise the potential for the development of green gas”.
She stated there were no barriers to renewable gas being used in the gas grid “which cannot be overcome”, and highlighted Germany and the USA as examples where green gas is currently being used.
It is estimated the cost to green the gas grid in the UK would cost “in the region of £30 billion” but Flint stated that two thirds of that related to waste infrastructure “which needs to be built anyway”.
She stated that the costs to upgrade the grid infrastructure, so renewable gas could be injected into the system “could be much, much less”.
In contrast, Flint said the electrification of the heating systems in the UK, rather than using the existing gas grid and gas fuelled heating systems, would require an electricity transmission and distribution system four times its current size.
She said this would put an “unprecedented, and almost certainly unsupportable, burden onto consumers”.
Flint added that not only will greenhouse gas emissions be reduced because using gas for heat more efficient than using it for electricity generation, but by diverting waste from landfill sites, methane is also prevented from being released into the atmosphere.
The shadow energy secretary warned that action to promote the use of renewable gas was needed because the “window of opportunity will not be with us forever”.
She added: “If we don’t move quickly, local authorities and other waste producers will enter into long-term contracts with companies to incinerate waste.”