Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 13
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 66
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)
Floating offshore wind offers the potential to expand and diversify the UK’s portfolio of wind projects, including to the Celtic Sea. Significant new investment in UK ports will be needed to enable floating offshore wind to be deployed at scale and to harness local supply chains and manufacturing. The Government’s Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme, though welcome, may not address the key concern of port operators — long term market revenue certainty. To provide ports with the confidence to make long-term investments in the necessary infrastructure for floating offshore wind, the Government should provide policy certainty that de-risks the required investment in ports.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 66, 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.