Source · Select Committees · Welsh Affairs Committee
Recommendation 3
3
Acknowledged
Paragraph: 48
To ensure that communities and business in Wales can decarbonise in line with government targets,...
Conclusion
To ensure that communities and business in Wales can decarbonise in line with government targets, grid infrastructure must be able to meet the projected increase in demand for electricity. The evidence we received suggested that the grid in Wales will not be suitable to facilitate the decarbonisation of heat and transport across Wales.
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the importance of grid infrastructure to meet the projected increase in electricity demand. They reference the British Energy Security Strategy (BESS) and the appointment of an Electricity Networks Commissioner but do not commit to specific actions to address the identified issue.
Paragraph Reference:
48
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The British Energy Security Strategy (BESS), published in April 2022, committed to significantly reduce timelines for delivering strategic onshore transmission network infrastructure, with an aim of reducing the development times by three years initially, and an aspiration ultimately to halve the end-to-end process by the mid-2020s. This infrastructure is vital to meeting the accompanying aims of renewable energy generation also committed to in the BESS. The BESS also committed to appointing an Electricity Networks Commissioner to further advise on how to meet this ambition and in July, Nick Winser was appointed to the role. As part of his advisory work the Commissioner is leading on a project, run by the Energy System Catapult, to identify areas where improvements could be made to further accelerate