Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of a potential increase in energy prices in 2022.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is monitoring the significant increases in wholesale energy prices closely, and meeting regularly with Ofgem, suppliers and consumer groups to understand the future impact on consumers as well as to discuss potential mitigations.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potentioal for exporting green energy in the next (1) five, and (2) ten, years.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before Prorogation. I will correspond directly with the noble Baroness.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the future of combined heat and power plants in the UK.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is currently reviewing the role of combined heat and power plants, as the economy transitions to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy held a call for evidence, Combined Heat and Power (CHP): the route to 2050, between 12 June and 4 September. The responses are currently being analysed and a government response will be published in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal for a tidal lagoon near the Port of Mostyn in north Wales.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has not yet received a detailed proposal from project developers for a proposed tidal lagoon near the Port of Mostyn in North Wales.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK's future energy needs; and what plans they have to increase the generation of nuclear power.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government believes that nuclear power will play a key role in our future energy mix. Alongside other technologies, such as renewables, nuclear will enable us to remain a world leader in tackling climate change, helping to transition our energy system so that we can achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
The forthcoming Energy White Paper will address changes to our energy system, promoting high-skilled jobs and clean, resilient economic growth.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of (1) the number, and (2) the total cost, of fraudulent claims that have been made to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As part of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme application process lenders undertake fraud checks, including Know Your Customer and Anti Money Laundering checks as required. In addition, the application form is clear – any individual who knowingly provides false information is at risk of criminal prosecution. We are working across Departments, and with lenders and law enforcement agencies, to tackle fraudulent abuse of the scheme.
Details of how we expect the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme to perform is set out in our accounts for 2019-20, a copy of which has been placed in the Libraries of the House. At this early stage, such estimates are naturally highly uncertain as reflected in the explanatory notes of the Accounts.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the amount of energy generated from solar power; and how they plan to assist private and public sector businesses (1) to start, or (2) to increase, generating solar power on land they own or occupy.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Solar PV is a UK success story and a key part of the government’s strategy for low cost decarbonisation of the energy sector.
Achieving our ambitious 2050 Net Zero target will require significant increases in renewable electricity generation, and we will need to increase deployment across a range of technologies, including solar PV. This is why government announced on 2 March 2020 that large scale solar PV projects will be able to compete in the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round. The round will open in late 2021 and aim to deliver up to double the renewable capacity of last year’s successful round, potentially providing enough clean energy for up to 10 million homes.
Small scale solar PV generators can receive payment for the renewable electricity that they export to the grid under the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), introduced in January 2020. Generators can choose from several tariffs, which in some cases are higher than the export tariff provided under the previous Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme.
Both public and private sector businesses are entitled to seek support for new and extension solar PV projects under the CfD or SEG scheme, provided they satisfy the relevant eligibility requirements.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the amount of energy generated from wind power; and how they plan to assist private and public sector businesses (1) to start, or (2) to increase, generating wind power on land they own or occupy.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Achieving our ambitious 2050 Net Zero target will require significant increases in renewable electricity generation, and we will need to increase deployment across a range of technologies, including wind.
We now have 14.2GW installed onshore wind (ONW) capacity and we are a world leader in offshore wind (OFW) with installed capacity of 10.1GW (which will rise to 19.5GW by the mid 2020s).
On 6 October 2020, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced new plans to Build Back Greener by building on the UK’s success in wind energy. As part of this, we increased the offshore wind ambition to 40 GW by 2030, introduced a new target to deploy 1GW of floating wind by 2030, and to support up to double the capacity of renewable energy in the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) auction, which will open in late 2021.
This CfD allocation round will be open to both onshore and offshore wind (as well as other technologies) as announced on Monday 2 March 2020.
The Contracts for Difference scheme is the government’s main mechanism for supporting new renewable generation projects in Great Britain and to this date has secured clean energy for 12 million homes. Both public and private sector businesses are entitled to bid into the Contracts for Difference scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review the decision not to proceed with the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There are no current plans to review the decision not to proceed with the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon.
Asked by: Baroness Kennedy of Cradley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the rollout of the latest version of smart meters to be completed.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In June 2020, the Government confirmed that from July 2021 a new four-year policy framework will be implemented with fixed annual installation milestones for energy suppliers that will drive continued investment and support the cost-effective delivery of net zero and our clean economic recovery. The framework seeks to achieve high levels of overall smart meter coverage across Great Britain over the four-year period.