Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 21
21
Deferred
Paragraph: 104
Require Government to detail costs, financing, and transparency for 24 GW nuclear power ambition.
Conclusion
In response to this report, we request that the Government sets out: a) its current estimates of the total cost of delivering the Government’s 24 GW ambition; b) its latest official estimate of the total cost of Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C; Decarbonisation of the power sector 103 c) how it plans to finance its 24 GW ambition, including whether future projects will also adopt the Regulated Asset Base model; and d) the impact of the increasing costs of Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C on its plans for nuclear and how it is ensuring sufficient transparency over such costs.
Government Response Summary
The government's response details plans to publish standard terms for the low carbon hydrogen production business model and to design new transport and storage business models, completely ignoring the request for information on nuclear power costs and financing.
Paragraph Reference:
104
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
70. Hydrogen has an important role to play in decarbonising heavy industry and providing greener, flexible energy across power, transport, and potentially heat. However, it is the Government’s intention that hydrogen demand is guided by the market. Work is ongoing to ensure the regulatory and policy framework supports off-takers to be ready to switch to hydrogen when the commercial conditions are right. The Hydrogen Strategy 2020s roadmap enables policy to be prioritised towards applications with the greatest strategic potential to support deep decarbonisation of the UK economy. 71. The Government expects to publish the standard terms and conditions of the low carbon hydrogen production business model in Q3 2023 for initial projects, with an aim for the first awards to be made in Q4 2023. The Government committed in the 2022 British Energy Security Strategy to design new transport and storage business models by 2025, and is taking forward the necessary measures to implement this commitment, including through measures in the Energy Security Bill. 2 Climate Change Committee (2020): The Sixth Carbon Budget, The UK’s path to Net Zero 3 https://www.iea.org/reports/carbon-capture-utilisation-and-storage-2 14 Decarbonisation of the power sector: Government Response