Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the existing energy storage capacity of (1) hydroelectric pump storage facilities at full capacity, (2) battery storage facilities, and (3) other methods of electricity storage; and what are the target figures for expanding each category in the next 10 years.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Power capacity statistics for energy storage capacity in the UK can be found in the annually published Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), in particular Table 5.16.[1] The government’s Clean Power Action Plan[2] sets out ranges for the energy storage capacity we could need by 2030, as informed by advice from the National Energy System Operator (NESO). While there are no fixed targets set for 2035, NESO regularly publishes Future Energy Scenarios which set out pathways to Net Zero in 2050 and include energy storage capacity
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/clean-power-2030-action-plan
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to reconfigure the electricity grid network in the UK to minimise the need to constrain electricity generation by wind turbines to prevent overload.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Government is implementing a strategic network planning approach led by the National Energy System Operator (NESO). This includes two previous published plans, as well as the upcoming Centralised Strategic Network Plan (CSNP), to be published by NESO in 2027. These strategic network plans take a holistic approach, with economic cost - including constraints costs - being one of the key criteria in determining the recommended transmission network design.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand the number and capacity of hydroelectric pump storage facilities in (1) Wales, (2) England, and (3) Scotland; how many such facilities have been approved and are under construction; and how many are awaiting planning approval.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets an ambition of 4-6GW of long duration electricity storage (LDES) capacity, which includes pumped storage hydropower (PSH), by 2030. This is being enabled through an LDES cap and floor investment support scheme, which government announced in October 2024 and is being delivered by Ofgem. It is open to projects from all parts of Great Britain.
The British Hydro Association maintains a list of PSH projects under development in Great Britain at the following link: https://british-hydro.org/pumped-storage-hydropower/.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much was paid in each of the past five financial years as constraint payments to wind farm operators to compensate them for having to turn off their wind turbines to avoid the grid being overloaded in (1) England, (2) Scotland and (3) Wales.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system and managing constraints. NESO publishes monthly constraint costs on their website, which can be found on page 3 of the Monthly Balancing Services Summary (MBSS) dashboard. This data is split by England and Wales and Scotland.
Constraints are a natural part of operating an efficient electricity system and constraint payments are used around the world. However, government is working to reduce the level of constraints and improve energy security by accelerating the delivery of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they aim to eliminate the need for constraint payments to wind farm generators, and whether they have secured a contractual agreement with existing wind farm operators for that aim.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system and managing constraints. Constraints are part of operating an efficient electricity system and constraint payments are used around the world. Government is working to reduce constraints by accelerating the building of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system. The Reformed National Pricing package will also address constraints through improved strategic planning and market reforms. An update on these reforms will be published later this year.
Government has not entered into any contractual agreements with existing wind farm operators to eliminate constraint payments.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the average cost per domestic electricity consumer in the most recent year for which data are available of constraint payments made to renewable power companies.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) balances Great Britain’s electricity system, recovering costs through Balancing Services Use of System (BSUoS) charges. These include payments to generators to adjust output due to network constraints covering both turn-up and turn-down actions.
While Government holds aggregate data on constraint payments, it does not hold data by technology type.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have regarding the future of the Wylfa nuclear power site on Anglesey.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
Great British Energy – Nuclear acquired the site at Wylfa (Ynys Môn/Anglesey) last year. The site has positive attributes for new nuclear, although no decisions have yet been taken on any projects to be deployed at the site. We will set out our plans in due course.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the total electricity generation capacity by hydroelectric power plants in (1) England, (2) Scotland, and (3) Wales.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Electricity generation capacity for hydroelectric power plants is published in Energy Trends table 6.1, available on gov.uk.
At the end of 2024 the installed capacity for hydroelectric power plants was: (1) England 43 MW, (2) Scotland 1,668 MW and (3) Wales 168 MW.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have held, or plan to hold, discussions with the government of South Korea on the potential for joint projects to accelerate the roll-out of nuclear-generated electricity in the UK.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The UK has a strong civil nuclear relationship with the Republic of Korea, including an annual Civil Nuclear Dialogue, where officials from both governments discuss shared challenges and opportunities to collaborate.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the risk of increased electricity prices in Wales under the proposals to introduce zonal pricing of electricity in the UK.
Answered by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
The Government have not yet taken a decision on Zonal or Reformed National pricing. Zonal pricing has the potential to reduce bills for consumer across Great Britain, and we are currently conducting quantitative and distributional analysis to understand the impacts of zonal market design options on consumers, including those in Wales. A cost-benefit analysis will also inform policy decisions and help conclude how effectively the options meet the objectives.
Zonal pricing could be implemented with varying degrees of consumer exposure. We are working closely with the Welsh Government to understand how any potential REMA reforms could impact Welsh consumers and industry, and this will be taken into account as part of the final decision-making process.