Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 62
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
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 Future System Operator (FSO) should be granted sufficient powers and resources to effectively plan and co-ordinate the transformation of the electricity system. The FSO should be given a clear net zero directive within its governance arrangements. In response to this report, we ask that the Government confirms whether it is on track to set up the FSO by or in 2024 and outlines its plans for the division of institutional responsibilities between Ministers, Ofgem and the FSO. The FSO should engage with Decarbonisation of the power sector 111 the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on the progress it is making to deliver a decarbonised power system by 2035 and proactively share key decisions, performance issues and relevant policy concerns. (Paragraph 244)
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), 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.