Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Acknowledged
Ensure a stable policy environment to de-risk investments in low-carbon energy infrastructure.
Recommendation
Recent policy and regulatory uncertainty has undermined investor confidence at precisely the time when the UK is looking to attract private investment in clean energy infrastructure. The Government should do its utmost to create and maintain a stable policy environment, which de-risks investments in low-carbon technologies. (Paragraph 53) Decarbonisation of the power sector 101 Routes to managing electricity supply and demand
Government Response Summary
The government is looking into arrangements to support repowering renewable assets, considering planning frameworks for upgrading onshore wind farms and CfDs for repowering, with consultation responses due shortly or in due course.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
31. The Government is looking at arrangements to support the repowering of renewable assets when they require updating or replacing. 32. Firstly, as part of the DLUHC consultation on updates to the National Planning Policy Framework, the Government considered how the planning framework best encourages the upgrading of existing onshore wind farm sites. This is vital to sustaining existing sites as failure to do so would mean significant losses of cheap electricity generation. It would also mean having to build new infrastructure elsewhere as a substitute, increasing pressure on the environment and local communities. The Government will respond to the consultation in due course. 33. Secondly, the CfD scheme is designed to support renewable electricity generation assets during the earlier stages of development and generation, with the asset expected to become fully exposed to market conditions towards the tail-end of its life. Contracts under the current CfD framework have been tendered on this basis. The Government is aware of growing stakeholder interest in the viability of CfDs for the repowering of assets and understand that this could play an important role in meeting the Government’s net zero and energy security objectives. As such, this was included in the ‘Considerations for future Contracts for Difference (CfD) rounds’ consultation published on 14 December 2022. The Government’s consultation response is due to be published shortly, and will provide more information on the Government’s position.