Davey looks to hydrogen to store surplus wind power

Energy secretary Ed Davey has insisted that the coalition government is looking at not just batteries but advances in "hydrogen technology" so it can "store wind power when it's not needed on the grid".

Speaking to broadcaster Andrew Neil on the BBC’s ‘Sunday Politics’ Davey also insisted that the government was “developing carbon capture storage” and rolled off a number of measures his department was involved in to challenge reliance on coal fuelled power stations including “onshore wind, offshore wind, biomass, tidal, wave, solar, energy efficiency, new nuclear” expressing that there was a “very diverse approach” to dealing with the problem.

He also insisted that the majority of the average £112 hike expected in average household energy bills would be for “tackling fuel poverty” and measures to make people’s homes warmer.

“That’s a ‘no regrets’ [policy] as it reduces people’s energy bills long term”, said Davey.

He also challenged the assumption that the spend on renewable energy resources was set to reach £400 billion and that “only a small part of that £112 only a small amount is in subsidising renewable and low carbon energies.”

Davey’s comments came only days after granting planning consent for Triton Knoll a £3.6 billion offshore windfarm that will surpass the London Array to become the “world’s largest”. It will create a 1,200MW windfarm off the Lincolnshire and Norfolk coast.

The Prime minister David Cameron launched the 630MW London Array windfarm at the beginning of this month. The £2.2bn project that can power an estimated half a million homes sits 60 miles from Westminster in the middle of the Thames Estuary.

“Investing in clean energy that doesn’t pollute is good for people’s health, it also creates jobs,” said Davey.