Select committee: Environmental Audit Committee
Conclusion 41
Sixth Report - Enabling sustainable electrification of the economy
Published 24 May 2024
Paragraph 144
Environmental Audit Committee Enabling sustainable electrification of the UK economy All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Engaging early and fully with local communities to explain why renewable energy infrastructure through their area is necessary and of benefit to them is essential to ensure positive public participation and acceptance. Badly-designed community benefits, or those forced upon communities without adequate consultation, can create tension and objection to new infrastructure while adding costs to consumer bills nationwide. Approaches to engagement and consultation which are poorly thought out or ineptly executed will not help to speed up infrastructure development and will be likely to cause more resistance to its deployment overall.
From: Environmental Audit Committee, Sixth Report - Enabling sustainable electrification of the economy (HC 278), paragraph 144, 24 May 2024
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 31 December 2024 (deadline 24 July 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with a number of the Committee's recommendations on electrification, including on long-duration storage, community benefits and NESO governance, while saying other matters, such as an electrification supply chain roadmap, are still under review.
- On storage, the government "agrees with the importance of long-duration energy storage" and has published its decision to introduce a cap and floor scheme, with the first application round "expected in 2025".
- On the supply chain roadmap, it will be "reviewing the need for an electrification roadmap" rather than committing to one, and says its full approach to supporting supply chains will be in the Industrial Strategy due in Spring 2025.
- On market-wide half-hourly settlement, the government "notes the importance" of implementation, and Ofgem reports completion delayed to "July 2027 at the earliest and December 2027 at the latest".
- On community benefits, the government agrees it is important that communities "directly benefit" and is reviewing how to deliver them near new transmission infrastructure, saying it will set out more details "shortly".