Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 16
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 79
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)
We are pleased that the Government is looking at how best to support repowered assets. Replacing old onshore wind turbines with new technologies will help reduce the need for new capacity elsewhere. The Government should introduce a framework which supports the retention of existing onshore wind farms and other renewable assets, for example via the Contracts for Difference scheme, when they need to be repowered. The Government should ensure that the planning regime delivers a clear presumption in favour of repowering and life extensions of onshore wind farms.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 79, 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.