Lord Offord of Garvel

Great Britain is expected to have sufficient supplies of electricity and gas to meet consumers’ demands over the short and long-term (Statutory Security of Supply Report 2024). The UK’s diverse power mix reduces dependence on one generation source, ensuring security of supply in a range of conditions. By complementing renewables with flexible capacity, we ensure we can meet demand no matter the weather.

Through the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, we have taken significant steps to ensuring a resilient electricity grid, including reforming grid connections, streamlining the planning system, and supporting investment in supply chains and green jobs.

The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for operating Great Britain’s electricity system and managing constraints. Constraint payments are part of Balancing Use of System charges and NESO publishes total balancing costs, which are paid for by energy users and totalled £1.7bn in 2024. Published costs are not split between different types of generators.

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 constraints and improve energy security by accelerating the building of new electricity network infrastructure to increase capacity on the system.

Spend by Great British Energy will be published in the usual way through annual reports and accounts.

On 23 August 2024, the Government commissioned the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to provide practical advice on achieving a zero-carbon electricity system by 2030. NESO consulted publicly in September and October 2024 on its approach and assumptions and published its advice in November 2024. We accepted independent advice from the National Energy System Operator (NESO), on the energy infrastructure required to deliver Clean Power 2030. Last December, we launched our Clean Power 2030 Action Plan which set out a detailed plan for achieving the target of clean power by 2030.

Upgrading and expanding the electricity network is critical to the government’s mission of making Britain a Clean Energy Superpower. NESO analysis suggests that bringing forward critical transmission network projects and avoiding delays to wider network build could deliver savings of approximately £4bn in 2030 by reducing constraint costs. That is why we are taking bold steps to accelerate infrastructure build, speed up planning, and reform grid connections.

Over the past year alone, we’ve delivered the most significant investment in clean, homegrown energy in British history, laying the foundations for a clean, secure future energy system that protects bill payers.

As part of their advice on delivering Clean Power 2030*, the National Energy System Operator found that electricity demand growth of approximately 11% by 2030 would be required to electrify transport, heat and industry at the pace required to meet the Nationally Determined Contribution emissions target for 2030. This advice also found that overall costs to consumers would not increase from the shift to a clean power system whilst unabated gas should provide less than 5% of Great Britain’s generation in a typical weather year.

*Clean Power 2030 | National Energy System Operator

Following the election, this Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones - across the missions - for this Parliament.

As the House would expect, Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.

Public reviews will be available on gov.uk as they are published.

I refer the Rt Hon Lord Offord of Garvel to the answer provided by the Secretary of State on 10 December 2024 to Question 18202.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s (DESNZ) traded carbon values for modelling purposes are used to estimate the financial cost of purchasing allowances in the United Kingdom Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS) under different scenarios. These values are owned by DESNZ and not by the UK ETS Authority which governs the UK ETS.

The most recent set of traded carbon values for modelling purposes, for 2024, were published on the Government’s website on 17^th December 2024 and are attached. The assumptions are listed on the publication.

In England and Wales, the Planning Act 2008 requires developers to demonstrate that they have consulted adequately with communities before they submit applications for consent. Developers are also required to show they have fairly considered alternatives to their proposals in their applications. In Scotland, the Scottish Government’s good practice guidance sets out the expectations and requirements for consultation.

The Government is committed to ensuring that communities who live near new clean energy infrastructure also benefit from it and are currently considering how to most effectively deliver this. This includes developing guidance on community benefits for electricity transmission network infrastructure, which we will publish in due course.

The Government recently announced £30 million of additional budget for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for 2024-2025 in response to increased uptake of the scheme. It was also confirmed that the scheme budget for 2025-2026 will be almost doubled to £295 million, so that more families can benefit from £7,500 off the cost of a heat pump.

In addition, we are reforming air source heat pump permitted development rights in England, investing in UK manufacturing through the Heat Pump Investment Accelerator programme and introducing a reformed Clean Heat Market Mechanism next April, making heat pumps an even more attractive choice for households.

The Government has made clear in planning guidance that, wherever possible, solar developers should utilise brownfield sites. All projects are subject to rigorous planning examination, in which any impact on agricultural production is considered.