Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 51
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 215
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)
National Grid ESO’s markets for balancing the system and addressing constraints continue to be dominated by fast-acting gas plants. More flexible and responsive low-carbon assets, such as batteries, could lead to greater competition in National Grid ESO’s markets and offer more cost-effective services. We recommend that National Grid ESO opens up its markets to more participants and that it is transparent about the choices it makes when selecting which technologies will be used to balance the system. We further recommend that National Grid ESO reports on the carbon footprint of all its markets. In response to this report, we also ask that National Grid ESO sets out its transition plan to ensure that its markets align with the Government’s target to decarbonise the power system by 2035.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 215, 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.