Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 5
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 31
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 ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
The Government has set a target to decarbonise the power system by 2035, subject to security of supply. The Government has not defined ‘security of supply’. After 2035, there may be rare occasions when the UK needs to use unabated gas-fired stations to meet shortfalls in supply. A clear definition of ‘security of supply’ is needed to ensure that the Government can be properly held to account for its performance against the 100 Decarbonisation of the power sector 2035 target. The Government should define the ‘subject to security of supply’ condition in its 2035 target and clarify the amount of residual emissions from unabated gas plants that it is willing to accept from 2035 onwards.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 31, 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.