To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to introduce targets for the number of anaerobic digestion plants to be built in the United Kingdom utilising agricultural and waste products. [HL5892]

We have no intentions of introducing targets for the number of anaerobic digestion plants to be built in the UK. Such a policy would encourage plants to be build for the sake of the target rather than encourage cost-effective, well thought-out proposals to deliver both renewable energy and carbon savings. We are nevertheless working with local government, business and farmers to identify the potential of anaerobic digestion in their sectors. We have developed jointly with a broad range of stakeholders Anaerobic Digestion—Shared Goals. This sets out our collective ambitions for the use of anaerobic digestion in this country, as well as the aspirations of individual sectors. It includes an aspiration by the National Farmers Union to have 1,000 farm-based anaerobic digestion plants by 2020.

We are encouraging the development of anaerobic digestion through our policies to support the generation of renewable energy. The renewables obligation supports the generation of renewable electricity by anaerobic digestion, as will the feed-in tariff. Our proposed renewable heat incentive will support the generation of heat or the production of biomethane from anaerobic digestion for injection to the gas grid.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the promotion and building of more anaerobic digestion plants would affect the need for increased national gas storage capacity. [HL5893]

The progressive loss of flexible indigenous natural gas production means that the GB gas market will need alternative sources of supply- (and potentially demand-) side flexibility, including gas storage capacity.

The extent to which increased supplies from biomethane could offset a need for additional close-to-market gas storage capacity would depend on a number of factors, including the quantity, reliability and flexibility of such supplies.