National Grid: Capacity

Viscount Hanworth Excerpts

Monday 11th January 2021 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Viscount Hanworth]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the National Grid; and what plans they have to commission the construction of small modular reactors to address any capacity issues identified.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

Capacity margins for this winter are healthy, and we remain confident that electricity security can be maintained under a wide range of scenarios. Through the capacity market, we have secured our main tool for ensuring security of supply—the capacity needed to meet forecast peak demand—up to 2023-24.

On the second part of the noble Lord’s Question, we anticipate that SMRs will be deliverable in the UK by the early 2030s, when we also aim to demonstrate the next generation of AMRs.

[Viscount Hanworth (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for that Answer. According to the climate change committee, a quadrupling of low-carbon power generation will be required if we are to meet the 2050 target for decarbonising the economy, and a very substantial part of the power will come from nuclear. Do Her Majesty’s Government still believe that the construction of nuclear power stations can be led and financed by private consortia, or do they now conceive that, as in the case of the first generation of nuclear power stations, they must be financed preponderantly, if not entirely, by public funds? The best native technology for nuclear power generation is the Rolls-Royce project to develop a small modular nuclear reactor. Do Her Majesty’s Government have plans to increase their very limited financial support for this enterprise?

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

There was a number of questions there; I will do my best. Having consulted, we still believe that the regulated asset base model is the best way of financing large-scale nuclear projects. As we said in the energy White Paper, we are absolutely committed to producing at least one new plan for a large nuclear project. On SMRs, the £385 million allocated to advanced nuclear technologies in the energy White Paper is a significant amount; we are committed to it and we support the Rolls-Royce consortium wholeheartedly.