Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 44
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 189
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 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.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 189, 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.