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Written Question
Ports: Energy
Wednesday 30th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 8 November (HL2795), whether their plans to develop the Electricity Networks Strategic Framework for ports will include projects to use wave energy.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Wave energy technologies show promise but remain at a pre-commercial stage and cannot displace better established renewables in our energy mix. The Government monitors the situation and will consider how best to integrate wave with the Electricity Networks Strategic Framework.


Written Question
Renewable Energy
Thursday 17th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had (1) internally, and (2) with industry, in the past 12 months on increasing (a) the production of wave and tidal energy, and (b) innovative funding mechanisms to increase such production; and further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 31 October (HL2667), what plans they have to put a copy of the analysis on the cost-effectiveness of marine energy in the Library of the House.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Last year the Government consulted on the draft energy National Policy Statements which include provisions for tidal energy. A response will be published in due course. The Government is also exploring options for increasing the production of tidal energy including innovative funding mechanisms.

The report on the role and value of Tidal Stream Generation in the Future UK Energy System is attached and is publicly available on the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult website.


Written Question
Renewable Energy
Wednesday 16th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer from Lord Callanan on 31 October (HL2667), whether they will place a copy of the analysis referred to in the Library of the House; and what discussions they have had (1) internally, and (2) with industry, in the past 12 months on (a) increasing production of wave and tidal energy, and (b) innovative funding mechanisms for this.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

A summary of the report’s findings, the role and value of Tidal Stream Generation in the Future UK Energy System is publicly available on the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult website.

The Government consulted last year on the draft energy National Policy Statements, which include a provision for tidal energy, and the Government will publish a response in due course.


Written Question
Water Power
Wednesday 16th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what meetings or correspondence they have had with firms and trade bodies in the fisheries industry in 2022 about (1) barriers to, and (2) benefits of, deployment of wave and tidal energy.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government has not recently corresponded with or met fisheries trade associations on the subject of tidal energy. The Government consulted last year on the draft energy National Policy Statements, which included a provision for tidal energy, and will publish a response in due course.


Written Question
Tidal Power
Monday 7th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s report Cost Reduction Pathway of Tidal Stream Energy in the UK and France, published on 17 October, whether they will set a 2030 target for tidal stream energy as they have done for offshore wind, nuclear and hydrogen production.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government welcomes the Catapult’s report and will continue to work with the sector to promote deployment of tidal energy where feasible. Over 40MW of new tidal stream power has been secured in Scotland and Wales via the Contracts for Difference scheme this year. This was the first time that tidal stream power has been procured at this scale.


Written Question
Tidal Power: Finance
Monday 7th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s report Cost Reduction Pathway of Tidal Stream Energy in the UK and France, published on 17 October, whether they will keep a ringfenced amount of generation of tidal stream energy in upcoming Contracts for Difference auctions.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is currently developing auction parameters for Allocation Round 5 of the Contracts for Difference scheme, including any for tidal stream, taking into account evidence of the pipeline of available projects. The Government will publish details of these parameters ahead of the round opening in March 2023.


Written Question
Tidal Power: Wind Power
Monday 7th November 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to The Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult’s report Cost Reduction Pathway of Tidal Stream Energy in the UK and France, published on 17 October, whether they plan to extend the proposed streamlining of planning legislation for offshore wind to tidal stream energy.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The energy National Policy Statements are being updated to include Tidal Stream generation. Details will be published in due course with an annex for Tidal Range which indicates what a well-developed project proposal entails, to aid developers in their planning process.


Written Question
Renewable Energy
Monday 31st October 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the CSIRO report Dispatchability and energy storage costs for complementary wave, wind, and solar PV systems, published on 27 September, and (2) the potential for wave energy to assist with maintaining grid stability in the UK as the share of renewable energy increases.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Analysis has confirmed the predictability, resilience and potential cost-effectiveness of marine energy, which could play a key role in delivering net zero, as noted in the cited report. The Government is pleased that, at the last contracts for difference auction, four tidal stream projects were successful. The Department continues to explore options to increase the production of wave and tidal energy, including innovative funding mechanisms.


Written Question
Climate Change
Wednesday 26th October 2022

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to obtain agreement for climate change mitigation measures through the World Trade Organization.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The UK is working with international partners to help tackle climate change and champion the multilateral trading system through the World Trade Organisation, in line with our global ambition on climate change. The UK is actively engaged at the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and the Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD) group to accelerate progress towards multilateral solutions, including to promote trade in environmental goods and services and find solutions to help mitigate carbon leakage risk.


Written Question
Equal Pay: Ethnic Groups
Monday 30th November 2020

Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to compel companies to report their ethnicity pay gaps.

Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

In 2018/19, the Government consulted on options for employer-level ethnicity pay reporting. Following the consultation, the Government met with businesses and representative organisations to understand the barriers to reporting and explore what information could be published to allow for meaningful action to be taken. We also ran a voluntary methodology testing exercise with a broad range of businesses to better understand the complexities outlined in the consultation using real payroll data. The Government is continuing to analyse this data and will respond in due course.