Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to expand the green hydrogen sector.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Electrolytic (‘green’) hydrogen is essential to meeting the UK's net zero target. Government analysis suggests that by 2030 the sector could support over 12,000 jobs and unlock over £9 billion in private investment. The UK is aiming to develop up to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen generation by 2030, with at least half from electrolytic hydrogen, subject to affordability and value for money.
The Government has set out a comprehensive package of support, combining upfront capital funding with a long-term business model, to instigate electrolytic hydrogen projects. The Government aims to run yearly electrolytic allocation rounds for the Hydrogen Business Model.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made in developing hydrogen since the publication of the UK Hydrogen Strategy in August 2021, CP 475; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Since publishing the UK Hydrogen Strategy, the Government has doubled its ambition from 5GW to 10GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 - subject to affordability and value for money.
The first electrolytic allocation round opened in July, offering support from our Net Zero Hydrogen Fund and the Hydrogen Business Model. In August, four CCUS-enabled hydrogen projects were selected to proceed to due diligence as part of the Government’s plan for industrial clusters.
The “Hydrogen Strategy Update to the Market” was published in July and summarises government policy development and delivery since the publication of the strategy.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to promote the production of green hydrogen by using (a) sailing ships to harness the power of the wind and (b) other innovative methods of production.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK Hydrogen Strategy sets out government’s ambition to support a variety of low carbon hydrogen production methods, including electrolytic and CCUS-enabled hydrogen, alongside innovative hydrogen production methods.
The Government welcomes UK innovation towards this ambition. As part of the £1bn Net Zero Innovation Portfolio, the Government is providing £60m in funding for innovation work on the supply of hydrogen and £55m for fuel switching which includes switching processes to hydrogen power. The Government is committed to working with industry to identify, support and then develop credible innovative hydrogen production technologies.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to provide specific support on the cost of energy to schools which use heating oil to heat their buildings.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Support will be provided for non-domestic customers, including schools, that use alternative fuels, such as heating oil, instead of gas for heating. Further details will be announced shortly.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what comparative assessment he has made of the potential merits of PWR nuclear reactors and molten salt reactors in the context of the Government's plans for new nuclear power stations in the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government has commissioned several comparative assessments of nuclear energy technologies over the last decade, many of which have included consideration of Molten Salt technologies.
The outputs of these assessments were considered, alongside other evidence sources, in the development of the “Advanced modular reactors (AMRs): technical assessment” published in July 2021 as part of the decision on the technology choice for the Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) Research, Development & Demonstration (RD&D) programme. This can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/advanced-modular-reactors-amrs-technical-assessment.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that there is sufficient capacity in the National Grid to allow micro producers of electricity to feed their energy supplies into the Grid.
Answered by Greg Hands
Electricity network capacity and accommodating new connections are both the responsibility of the licensed electricity network companies overseen by Ofgem, as the independent energy regulator. Generation up to 3.68kW per phase may connect to the network without prior approval. For larger microgeneration projects a connection application would need to be made to the relevant distribution network operator (DNO). The DNO assesses the impact on its network and issues a connection offer, including any necessary network capacity requirements.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to assess the potential effect of the fall in oil prices on the take-up of the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive and heat pump installation.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
There are no plans to assess the potential effect of the fall in oil prices on the Renewable Heat Incentive. The number of heat pump accreditations onto the domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme had recovered to pre-Covid 19 volumes by December 2020, and the price of oil may rise again as the world economy recovers from the Covid 19 pandemic. The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive is due to close to new applications in March 2022.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage the installation of heat pumps.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government takes the role heat pumps can have in driving down carbon emissions very seriously and has set an ambitious target of 600,000 heat pump installations a year by 2028. BEIS are currently supporting heat pump deployment via both the Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). As per November 2020 the total number of Non-Domestic RHI accredited applications for heat pump based installations was 2,500 and 62,492 in the Domestic RHI.
BEIS are also providing support via the Future Homes Standard, which will ensure that new homes are built zero carbon-ready without the need for costly retrofitting, a new market-based policy which puts industry at the heart of efforts to develop the heat pump market, our commitment to phase out the installation of high-carbon fossil-fuel heating off the gas grid through targeted regulation, and a range of other policies such as the Home Upgrade Grant and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund. We are planning to publish consultations on the market mechanism and off-gas-grid regulations in due course, alongside the forthcoming Heat and Buildings Strategy.
As part of the £1.5 billion Green Homes Grant (GHG) scheme, the government will fund up to two-thirds of the cost of installing low-carbon heat (including air source, ground source and hybrid heat pumps) and energy efficiency measures in homes. Under the scheme, the government aims to retrofit 600,000 homes in England and to date, over 60,000 applications have been received.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will recognise the four counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Dorset as the Great South West economic region, as recommended by the relevant local enterprise partnerships; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The Government is committed to pan-regional partnerships, as part of our commitment to further devolution and level up the country. These non-statutory partnerships will need to operate at scale, driving greater levels of foreign investment into the UK, and capitalising on major economic opportunities over a pan-regional geography.
I am grateful to the Counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, and Dorset for their proposals as presented in the Great South West prospectus and we will be setting out further detail through the Devolution White Paper.
Asked by: Gary Streeter (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that recreational boaters whose craft have Union Goods status retain that status after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Craft used by recreational boaters are currently regulated by the EU Directive on recreational craft and personal watercraft. In the White Paper published on 12th July, the Government set out its ambition for a future economic partnership with the EU, which includes a proposal for a UK-EU free trade area underpinned by a common rulebook on industrial goods. This would cover those rules necessary to provide for frictionless trade at the border and would be supported by arrangements covering all relevant compliance activity necessary for products to be sold in the UK and EU markets. Our proposal would allow UK goods, including recreational craft, to move freely between the UK and EU markets. We must all now move at pace to negotiate our proposal to deliver the prosperous and secure future all our citizens deserve.