Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 18
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 87
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 agree that the Government should seek to maximise the renewable opportunities afforded by the UK’s geography, including the potential benefits of tidal energy. Unlike offshore wind, tidal stream projects have not benefited from stable subsidies to bring their costs down. The Government’s recent decision to reduce the tidal steam ringfence from £20 million to £10 million in the upcoming round of Contracts for Difference scheme may damage the UK’s first-mover advantage in marine energy and increase project costs. However, we recognise that support must provide value for money for taxpayers.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 87, 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.