Energy National Policy Statements

We welcome the fact that EN-1 has been revised to reflect the Government’s commitment to deliver net zero by 2050, and to move away from reliance on fossil fuels. Meeting our net zero target will require a significant scale and pace of change in delivering new energy infrastructure. We therefore welcome the Government’s timely review of the National Policy Statement for Energy and its recognition that significant changes to the planning framework for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) is required.

As currently drafted, revised (draft) EN-1 does not provide the “step change” needed to deliver the required scale of new NSIPs at a sufficiently rapid pace to deliver the Government’s net zero aims. This is largely due to ambiguity in the drafting about the relative weight of ‘climate change’ relative to local impacts to be taken into account in making planning decisions. We recommend that revised (draft) EN-1 be further amended to make the Government’s commitment to net zero more explicit and to provide a clear and unambiguous direction to the Secretary of State to prioritise the importance of climate change in decision-making.

We recommend that revised (draft) EN-1 provides clearer direction in favour of the presumption of the delivery of new energy infrastructure required to deliver net zero. We recommend that revised (draft) EN-1 explicitly sets out that the NPS takes precedent over any other conflicting local or statutory bodies’ planning policies. We further recommend that the Government work closely with those local and statutory authorities, to make sure that their planning principles are more broadly in line with the UK Government’s commitment to deliver net zero.

We recognise that the inclusion of specific targets for the delivery of renewable energy infrastructure within the NPS would provide a clear indication of the Government’s intention to deliver net zero—and give practical application to this principle within the planning process. We acknowledge the Minister’s response that the Government’s targets for specific technologies are set out elsewhere, and that the purpose of updating the NPS was to bring the planning framework in line with those targets.

If the Government’s targets set for renewables are not to be included within the NPS planning regime, the link between those targets and planning principles must be made explicit in respect of each technology or generation capacity, so that they are clearly understood by planning authorities and industry to facilitate the delivery of renewable energy infrastructure projects

The purpose of reviewing the current NPS was to update it to bring it in line with the Government’s Energy White Paper. However, since then, the Government has published a number of key policy documents which are relevant for the effective delivery of nationally significant infrastructure to deliver net zero. We recommend that before the final version of the revised NPS for Energy is laid before Parliament it is further updated to bring it in line with current policy, especially, for example, on 22 Revised (Draft) National Policy Statement for Energy the Government’s plans for hydrogen and Carbon Capture and Storage. It would be a missed opportunity if the revised (draft) NPS was not fully up to date and in line with current Government policy on energy.

We acknowledge the Government’s view that the NPS should not be overly prescriptive to avoid discouraging the development of new technologies. We recognise that the NPS should also facilitate the development of new technologies in this fast-moving sector. We therefore recommend the clear alignment of the NPS with specific technology roadmaps. The Government should develop technology roadmaps with industry where they don’t yet exist. Explicit and clear cross-references would help to provide clarity both in terms of policy and planning required to encourage innovation and promote the scaling-up of new technologies.

We note that the current review of the NPS for Energy is the first to have taken place in 10 years. In order to properly take into account the rapid pace of technological change in the energy sector and the need for significant progress towards meeting our net zero target, the NPS must be reviewed more frequently We recommend that the Energy NPS is reviewed every five years.

We recommend that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to consider the potential merits of implementing a single National Policy Statement across sectors with sub-sector statements linked to different technology developments. Consideration of this change should be assessed in the light of flexibility and the ability to review parts of the NPS more frequently. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy should write to this Committee no later than February 2023 with the conclusions of this review. (Paragraph 46) Energy Infrastructure EN-2 to EN-5

As noted above, we recommend that the revised (draft) NPS, both EN-1 and EN-2, be updated to take into account the Hydrogen Strategy.

We recognise the importance of onshore wind as a significant source of clean energy and as a key part of the energy mix required to achieve net zero. The current NPS was reviewed in order to bring the planning framework in line with the policy context set out in the Government’s Energy White Paper. In this context, we recommend that the Government consider the inclusion of onshore wind within the NSIP planning regime.

We recommend that revised (draft) EN-4 includes explicit and precise wording on hydrogen, Carbon Capture and Storage and other technologies that will more clearly demonstrate how the move away from fossil fuels will be achieved. This must specifically include reference to the infrastructure required, for example for the transmission of CO2, and not just the specific types of technology used at source, such as Carbon Capture.

We also recommend that the NPS include language on maintaining the resilience of fossil fuel infrastructure that will remain in use up to 2035, in line with existing Government policy. (Paragraph 64) Revised (Draft) National Policy Statement for Energy 23

We recommend that EN-5 is updated to reflect the outcome of the Offshore Transmission Network Review (OTNR). We understand the revised Energy NPS is expected to be laid before Parliament before the OTNR is due to be completed. The Department should consider how the potential outcome of the OTNR should be reflected in revised EN-5, but without causing significant delay to the publication of the revised NPS.

We welcome the clarity in the NPS on undergrounding which will speed up the process for planning electricity connections through designated areas.

We recommend that Ministers consider whether reference to undergrounding should be extended to include application in areas where network resilience, for example to extreme weather events, is considered more likely in the future. We ask that Ministers write to this committee no later than July 2022 with its conclusions. (Paragraph 72) Conclusion

We welcome the review of the NPS for energy which updates the planning framework for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects in line with the Government’s policy commitments as set out in the Energy White Paper. In doing so, it should help provide the energy infrastructure required to deliver the Government’s net zero target. In order to achieve this, we have made a number of recommendations for further amendments to the revised (draft) NPS in this report, before the revised NPS is laid before Parliament.

Overall, we recommend that the revised (draft) NPS needs to place greater emphasis on the impact of climate change and the speed at which new infrastructure will need to be built to meet the Government’s net zero target. It must clearly articulate how the decision-making process will weigh the urgent need for developments which contribute to climate change mitigation, against other relevant considerations. It must unambiguously express that the prime consideration for planning consent for NSIPs for renewable energy is the overall contribution to mitigating climate change and reducing emissions.

The revised NPS for energy should be a clear and unambiguous statement of the key principles underpinning the planning framework, thereby allowing a clear statement of intent while also allowing sufficient flexibility to take into account new and emerging technologies. We recommend that the NPS for energy should, however, be closely linked to policy proposals and technology specific roadmaps, which set specific targets for specific sectors - thereby incentivising the development of those new and emerging technologies required to achieve net zero by 2050.

We recommend that Government reviews the NPS for energy at least once every five years and that Ministers ensure the resilience of our energy infrastructure is included in these reviews going forward. (Paragraph 76) 24 Revised (Draft) National Policy Statement for Energy