Source · Select Committees · Business and Trade Committee
Recommendation 44
44
Deferred
Paragraph: 189
Establish a Minister-led infrastructure delivery group to expedite national network infrastructure build at pace.
Recommendation
We recommend that Ofgem sees the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) framework as a starting point to accelerate the delivery of the necessary grid upgrades required to meet the Government’s 2035 target. This work should continue beyond 2035 to ensure adequate overall capacity for delivering on the 2050 net zero target. We support the recommendation of the Climate Change Committee for the Government to establish a Minister-led infrastructure delivery group, advised by the Electricity Networks Commissioner, to ensure that network infrastructure build is taken forward at pace. This should bring together senior parties across relevant Government Departments, as well as Ofgem, the Scottish and Welsh Governments, National Grid ESO and asset owners, to monitor progress across the initiatives required to expedite progress.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government references its ongoing Review of Electricity Market Arrangements (REMA), which involved a first consultation in 2022 and a second planned for Autumn 2023, exploring options for market reform and locational signals. The response outlines a process of consultation and exploration, but does not directly commit to leveraging ASTI for grid upgrades or establishing a Minister-led infrastructure delivery group.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
189
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
100. The Government welcomed Ofgem’s response to their consultation on Accelerating Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) in December. This detailed the streamlining of the regulatory approval and funding process, by reducing the number of regulatory assessment stages and allowing the transmission operators earlier access to project funding for accelerating the delivery of ASTI projects, worth nearly £20bn. 101. The Government appointed Nick Winser to the role of Electricity Networks Commissioner to advise the Government on how to reduce timelines significantly for delivering strategic onshore transmission network infrastructure, with an aim of reducing the development times by three years initially, and an aspiration ultimately to halve the end-to-end process, which is 12–14 years. He will submit his recommendations to government in June. As stated in the Energy Security Plan, Government will publish an Action Plan this year in response.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗