Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 45
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 194
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)
The UK’s “first come first served” approach to grid connections is failing to deliver the volume of connections required. Projects which may be speculative or slow-moving risk being prioritised over those that are more viable. While we welcome National Grid ESO’s five-point plan to tackle queue management issues at the transmission level, we do not believe this has proved successful to date. We recommend that Ofgem allows National Grid ESO to require projects already in the queue to meet strengthened milestones. If projects are unable to meet these, network operators should be able to prioritise other more viable projects in the queue. In response to this report, we ask that National Grid ESO explains what steps it is taking to work with the Distribution Network Operators to stop projects that want to connect to the distribution network getting stuck in the transmission queue. We would welcome direct intervention from Government on these issues if required.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 194, 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.