Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to represent Scottish onshore wind within the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.
Answered by Baroness Curran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments jointly commissioned NESO to produce the first Strategic Spatial Energy Plan for Great Britain. It will identify potential zonal locations; types of generation and storage needed for a secure and affordable energy system.
Scottish onshore wind will be considered alongside other eligible technologies, accounting for technical, economic, environmental and societal factors.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Aurora Energy Research, The Future of Scottish Wind Development, published on 2 June, particularly its finding that increasing Scottish onshore wind capacity after 2030 as part of the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan could help to reduce energy system costs by £5 billion a year.
Answered by Baroness Curran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is delivering the first Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP). This will consider the cost optimal types and locations of future energy infrastructure including onshore and offshore wind - whilst also factoring in environmental, societal, and other spatial interests.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to allow private sector bids for use of americium produced from used nuclear reactor fuel.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
The department recognises the potential importance of americium for advanced technologies, including space power systems.
Whilst no decisions have been taken, government continue to explore opportunities for collaboration with industry. Any future private sector involvement would need to comply with strict safety, security and regulatory frameworks.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to scale up the production of americium from used nuclear reactor fuel.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
The Department is supporting the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL)’s work to extract americium from the UK’s civil separated plutonium inventory at Sellafield for the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) ENDURE Programme.
Discussions are taking place with industry, public bodies and wider government prior to any decision making beyond current commitments.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the economic impact of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's decommissioning programme, and that programme's contribution to the Plan for Change, in particular to regional growth and skills development.
Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham
The nuclear industry has a proud record of supporting tens of thousands of well-paid, highly skilled, unionised jobs, which are vital to communities across the country.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority permanently employs 17,500 people and invests £45m each year in apprentice and graduate development supporting the Nuclear Skills Agenda. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority also supports approximately 5,000 companies as part of its supply chain. The economic impact of the NDA group was reported upon in 2022 [1] and has most recently undertaken an economic impact assessment which will be published this financial year [2]
[1] Microsoft Word - Magnox economic impact assessment - 2022, The economic contribution of the NDA to the West Cumbria economy, Dounreay_Socio-economic_report_2022.pdf
[2] at Nuclear Decommissioning Authority - GOV.UK
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal by the Sustainable Energy Association to incentivise energy bill saving by rewarding in-use energy efficiency measures, in place of the current approach of up-front payments.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The government is committed to ensuring energy efficiency schemes deliver measurable benefits for households. As part of the Warm Homes Plan, officials are exploring how to better target support and improve outcomes.
While the government has not made a formal assessment of the Sustainable Energy Association’s specific proposal, we will continue to engage with stakeholders on innovative approaches to improve affordability and effectiveness of retrofit delivery.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they have considered in addition to the installation of heat pumps to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from domestic hot water and heating systems.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Decarbonising heating is one of the biggest challenges facing the UK getting to Net Zero by 2050. A range of technologies are likely to be required including heat pumps, heat networks and biomethane. As part of the Government's ambitious Warm Homes Plan, we will upgrade up to 5 million homes across the country by accelerating the installation of efficient new technologies like heat pumps, solar, home batteries and insulation. We will publish more details soon.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in bringing forward legislation to ban Russian nuclear fuel imports by 2028.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has already committed to removing any Russian fuel and uranium supply to the UK by 2030 and officials continue to explore ways to re-emphasise existing commitments to divestment.
The procurement of nuclear fuel, including uranium and enrichment services, is a commercial matter for reactor operators. The Government works closely with these operators to ensure there is a secure and resilient supply for the UK fleet. All reactor operators must comply with UK domestic and international legal obligations, including any sanctions or trade measures in place against Russian-origin uranium.
The Government will continue its work with international partners to build resilient in nuclear fuel supply chains and to remove global dependencies on Russia.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decision in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan to allow only 700 megawatts of additional Scottish onshore wind capacity to connect to the grid between 2031 and 2035.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The regional capacity breakdowns for transmission connected technologies required for 2035 as set out in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, connections reform annex, have been developed using ranges from the NESO Future Energy Scenarios 2024 net zero aligned scenarios.
The ‘Future Energy Scenarios: Pathways to Net Zero 2025’ document outlines NESO’s methodology in full detail.
Asked by: Lord Ravensdale (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have undertaken an impact assessment of the decision to cap the supply of projects in the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan and the risk of driving up bills by reducing competition.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The capacity ranges set out in the Action Plan are not intended to cap supply of projects but, amongst other things, help prioritise the reform of the connections process. Today’s connections queue is significantly oversubscribed, with large volumes of some technologies and less of others.
It is vital that Contracts for Difference (CfD) continues to offer value for money to consumers and continue to deliver low prices, which is why auctions are designed to keep the process competitive.
Our reforms are aimed at improving the ability of the CfD mechanism to support a large volume of renewable capacity – particularly offshore wind – whilst maintaining competition, which provides value for money for consumers.