Renewable energy planning barriers

#88 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: Mr Hopkins thought that standardisation would not necessarily lead to conformity in aesthetic design for the new towns. 155 Standardising core parts of construction like energy performance expectations and building codes would have no effect on the visual identity of …

#55 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: High standards for water and energy consumption and supply must be embedded in the terms of reference for new town delivery vehicles. This provides a unique opportunity for innovative solutions such as grey water systems, and rainwater harvesting. 56 Q …

#48 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: Distinct new towns on greenfield sites are a blank slate for developers, making it more straightforward to integrate best practice for managing water and energy demand into their design. 76 Urban extensions have a different advantage: as much of the …

#9 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: High standards for water and energy consumption and supply must be embedded in the terms of reference for new town delivery vehicles. This provides a unique opportunity for innovative solutions such as grey water systems, and rainwater harvesting . (Paragraph …

#193 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: The Government should remove the need for a habitats regulations assessment to be undertaken for post-permission approvals for at least three years and for longer where development has been substantially started within the appropriate timescales for the development. Clarity and …

Response attribution not verified

#192 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: The Government should ensure that existing planning consents, which cannot be commenced because of an inability to clear conditions owing to new advice under the habitats regulations, are automatically extended for a further three years.

Response attribution not verified

#191 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: This requirement is stalling developments across the country. 245 Developments which had planning permission in place before advice such as water neutrality was issued must now undertake additional assessments and source mitigation before they can commence development. The owners of …

Response attribution not verified

#190 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: This interpretation of the law could mean that, in some cases, a permission already given will be lost because tests that did not apply at the time that it was granted have been applied retrospectively. As the Ministerial statement made …

Response attribution not verified

#186 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: The interaction between planning permission and permitting is causing delays on some sites, with a specific impact on the development of brownfield land. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities should work with the Department for Environment, Food and …

Response attribution not verified

#184 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: Overlaps between planning and permitting result in some developers facing lengthy waits for permits to address issues which have already been considered in the planning system. This is specifically in respect to the definition of waste and how this relates …

Response attribution not verified

#32 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: Statutory consultees should ensure sufficient resource is available for them to work with developers to address issues raised during the statutory process in a timely manner .

Response attribution not verified

#27 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: We were pleased to discover that there is a Ministerial Taskforce on Nutrient Neutrality. We do not know what its remit and objectives are. It is disappointing that such cross-governmental working was not in place before housebuilding was effectively halted …

Response attribution not verified

#25 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: Restructuring Defra’s arm’s-length bodies could distract from the Government’s targets for 2030. Nonetheless overlap between the agencies must be reduced to deliver the best value for money and reduce delays and confusion for developers.

Response attribution not verified

#22 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: The condition of protected areas in the UK has a direct impact on development. When not maintained, their poor condition can cause an immediate halt in housebuilding. Statutory bodies and others have known about the poor state of some protected …

Response attribution not verified

#4 —

Built Environment Committee

Recommendation: Too many local planning authorities do not have an up-to-date local plan. Given the importance of local plans in balancing ambitions for development and the need to protect the environment, the Government should ensure that all local planning authorities have …

Response attribution not verified

#31 —

Environmental Audit Committee

Recommendation: Controlled environment agriculture has the potential to provide a fresh year-round supply of foods that are usually imported and to minimise the environmental impact of the production of such foods, so long as it can use renewable energy wherever possible. …

Response attribution not verified

#101 —

Environment and Climate Change Committee

Recommendation: We recommend that the Government review the planning regulations for the upgrade of power lines and simplify the process where possible to speed up upgrades, particularly in rural communities while still ensuring proper protection of the environment and heritage.

Response attribution not verified

#100 —

Environment and Climate Change Committee

Recommendation: The Committee heard that under current planning regulations, the full planning and land rights process is triggered even for small amounts of upgrade work. This process can be further delayed if landowners do not reach a negotiated settlement. All of …

Response attribution not verified

#94 —

Environment and Climate Change Committee

Recommendation: We recommend that the Government designate low-carbon and renewable energy generation projects as strategically important net zero projects and fast track their progress through permitting and grid connection to achieve a decarbonised electricity grid as soon as possible and to …

Response attribution not verified

#93 —

Environment and Climate Change Committee

Recommendation: We welcome recent announcements to improve queue management for transmission projects and to speed up the time needed to build new transmission infrastructure. However, these still do not allow for strategic prioritisation of low-carbon or renewable energy projects ahead of …

Response attribution not verified

#63 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Review of Electricity Market Arrangements and decisions on locational pricing should be concluded swiftly to avoid any disruptions to investment. It should ideally include a mechanism to introduce locational incentives for industrial and energy storage projects to build in …

Response attribution not verified

#62 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Committee welcomes the Review of Electricity Market Arrangements, although we note with concern that the second consultation, outlining initial reforms, is overdue from an original deadline of 2023. Variable electricity pricing, including pricing that varies by location, could help …

Response attribution not verified

#60 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Future System Operator needs to be sufficiently empowered and resourced to develop a credible plan. As it does so, it must identify the key strategic, infrastructure and investment decisions that the plan entails. These decisions must then be made …

Response attribution not verified

#57 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: There is an urgent need for key strategic decisions and investment into the transportation networks for both electricity and hydrogen. These network decisions should support the deployment of large-scale long-duration energy storage and a strategic energy reserve. These decisions should …

Response attribution not verified

#45 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: As with many other Net Zero ambitions, the availability of relevant skills, including all types of engineers and particularly those with experience of hydrogen, will be a barrier to scaling up technologies.

Response attribution not verified

#44 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The planning system must be reformed and sufficiently resourced to deal with the additional strain on it from new energy projects. It must recognise storage for its own value for energy system resilience by the end of 2024. The Government, …

Response attribution not verified

#43 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: We have heard that obtaining planning permission for energy storage facilities can be difficult and add significantly to timelines. It is not clear that the planning system has distinct guidance for energy storage facilities as opposed to energy generation. There …

Response attribution not verified

#26 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Government should set out in its response to this report how it intends to obtain sufficient electrolyser capacity to meet its hydrogen production targets and ensure its approach supports domestic manufacture and research and development.

Response attribution not verified

#25 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: Meeting hydrogen targets will require substantial additional electrolyser capacity, which could become a serious production bottleneck for hydrogen if not addressed. We heard that there is strong international competition for such capacity, notably from the EU and US which have …

Response attribution not verified

#23 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: We welcome the Government’s ambitious target for 10 GW of clean hydrogen by 2030. However, clarity over the role of hydrogen is needed to decide on key details of storage and transportation infrastructure. Credible forecasts of demand for hydrogen would …

Response attribution not verified

#22 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Government should work with Centrica to understand its proposed project to repurpose the Rough gas storage facility for hydrogen, with a view to determining, by the end of 2024, whether it will support this project.

Response attribution not verified

#21 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: We heard that there could be some scope for repurposing gas storage facilities to store hydrogen in the future. This is at a lower technology readiness level than purpose-built salt caverns for storing hydrogen, which have been deployed before, but …

Response attribution not verified

#20 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Government should, as soon as possible, identify a portfolio of “no-regrets” investments into long-duration energy storage projects. This should include commissioning a pilot project that combines onsite electrolysis, hydrogen storage in salt caverns (on the scale of hundreds of …

Response attribution not verified

#19 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: Although many of the components of a facility used to generate, store and convert hydrogen back into electricity are technologically mature, there are no facilities that do all three at scale in the UK. A large-scale demonstrator could help to …

Response attribution not verified

#18 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: If unabated natural gas is to play a role, the Government must explain how this is compatible with climate change targets, in particular the Sixth Carbon budget and a decarbonised electricity system by 2035. If it will not pursue a …

Response attribution not verified

#15 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The funding allocated to this business model must be sufficient to support deployment at scale, in line with its aim to balance the overall system, and the Government should outline the scale of funding that will be associated with its …

Response attribution not verified

#14 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Government should, as a matter of urgency, finalise and set out the details of its business models to support commercial long-duration energy storage. We recommend that cap and floor support mechanisms are designed to support technologies that supply energy …

Response attribution not verified

#13 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The economics of long-duration energy storage projects are challenging and they will require additional financial support mechanisms. Our witnesses generally favoured a cap and floor mechanism, and we are pleased to see the Government is actively consulting on introducing one. …

Response attribution not verified

#11 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: There are long lead-in times for delivering energy storage—typically estimated around 7–10 years for most technologies. If the Government waits until there is a clear picture of exactly how supply, demand and the energy system will evolve, it cannot possibly …

Response attribution not verified

#6 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: The Government should, as a matter of urgency, set an explicit minimum target for how much “no-regrets” long-duration energy storage and generating capacity it wants to see operational by 2035. It should set out a credible timescale with interim milestones …

Response attribution not verified

#2 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: Domestic energy storage is not just about a resilient decarbonised grid—it is about the security and stability of the whole economy. The global energy crisis that began in 2021 has been an object lesson in the UK’s vulnerability to global …

Response attribution not verified

#1 —

Science and Technology Committee

Recommendation: Energy storage can provide benefits to the grid. It can reduce curtailment and grid congestion, avoiding wasting energy and reducing the cost of renewable electricity. Energy storage facilities provide power that can be turned on and off at will, enhancing …

Response attribution not verified

#9 —

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Recommendation: We heard compelling evidence that climate change poses a growing threat to UK food production and food security. Yet public concern about the use of farmland for solar development appears to be greater than concern about the impact of climate …

#9 —

Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee

Recommendation: The current electricity trading arrangements with the EU have caused market inefficiencies and increased UK energy costs. Reducing these costs through an agreement with the EU will provide significant benefits to UK businesses and consumers and support the broader UK …

Response status not verified

#18 —

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Recommendation: GB Energy’s new advisory service does not contain a dedicated planning function, despite the planning system being one of the most significant barriers our evidence identified. Our view is that it should. Planning constitutes both legal and technical expertise as …

Response status not verified

#16 —

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Recommendation: Energy planning is too important to hope that local planners have the capacity and knowledge to deliver to national targets. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero must ensure stronger coordination between NESO high-level spatial planning strategies and local …

Response status not verified

#15 —

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Recommendation: The Government must, this year, alter the National Planning Policy Framework to allow for community benefits from community energy to be material considerations in planning application processes. The current NPPF’s definition of community-led development would be a good starting point …

Response status not verified

#14 —

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Recommendation: The National Planning Policy Framework needs to be reviewed to enable local authorities and planners to differentiate community energy projects from commercial developers in planning application processes. There is a need for more clarity on what projects should be prioritised …

Response status not verified

#13 —

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Recommendation: The Government and Ofgem must agree a regulatory definition and clear criteria for community energy projects to allow them to be differentiated from commercial developers. (Recommendation, Paragraph 50) Planning

Response status not verified

#12 —

Energy Security and Net Zero Committee

Recommendation: The 8 GW target explicitly recognises the central role of community energy in the Clean Power Mission. A commitment to delivering it requires shifting away from ownership agnosticism to grant community energy a special status and help community energy projects …

Response status not verified