Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Conclusion 3
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 28
Addressed to Department for Business and Trade
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee Decarbonisation of the power sector All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
An overarching delivery plan for the decarbonisation of power, with clear milestones and contingencies, will help the Government bring a complex set of interrelated tasks together. At the moment, decisions are taken on specific technologies or issues in silos without a roadmap for the whole system. This has led to sequencing problems and a failure to take ownership of whole system costs. This was illustrated by National Grid ESO confirming significant constraint payments, largely stemming from a failure to upgrade the transmission grid between Scotland and England. A comprehensive plan will give investors more confidence to deploy new, low-carbon infrastructure in the UK because they will have a clearer understanding of how their projects, and the reforms these depend on, will fit into a decarbonised energy system.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 28, 28 April 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 July 2023 (deadline 28 June 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, planning annual reporting on power sector decarbonisation while setting out where it will not adopt specific proposals.
- On the call for a long-term delivery plan, the government "plans to report on its delivery, and overall plan to deliver the commitment, on an annual basis", and is strengthening its portfolio management approach.
- On a UK-wide onshore wind target, it states that setting one "would potentially undermine the flexibility needed" across the UK.
- On biomass, it has "no plans to remove support prior to 2027" for stations already supported, saying they "have a statutory right to their existing support".
- On Ofgem's duties, it is "content to amend" Ofgem's existing duty on greenhouse gases to refer specifically to the net zero targets in the Climate Change Act 2008.