Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what her planned timetable is for the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid Upgrade to be (a) constructed and (b) operational.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Norwich to Tilbury is being developed by National Grid, who are responsible for its construction and delivery. Under Ofgem's Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment framework, the licence delivery date for the project is December 2031. The project is the subject of a live application for development consent; it would not be appropriate to comment further on its timetable while that process is ongoing.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she make an assessment of the potential (a) economic and (b) environmental impacts of establishing an offshore grid to connect offshore windfarms off of the coast of the East of England to the grid.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is committed to identifying the most efficient and environmentally sustainable approaches to connecting offshore wind generation to the electricity networks, including solutions coordinating offshore cabling where they are most optimal.
This is why the National Policy Statements require developers to consider opportunities for offshore coordination and assess designs against cost, and cumulative impacts on the water environment - justifying how the mitigation hierarchy (avoid, reduce, mitigate, compensate), has been applied to address possible impacts.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which offshore wind farms are scheduled to be connected to the grid in each of the next ten years; and what level of GW will be added to grid capacity from each development.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Offshore wind is crucial to the UK’s energy security and is already playing a central role in reducing billpayers’ exposure to volatile international fossil fuel markets and decarbonising the UK’s power sector, generating 17.7% of UK electricity in 2025, up from 0.8% in 2010 and 5.1% in 2015.
Through connections reform, NESO and the Network Companies are issuing revised connections agreements to projects in the queue. The contents of the revised offers are commercially confidential.
Once connections agreements are signed by customers, project details and connection dates are added to the publicly available Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register (Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) register | National Energy System Operator).
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what his expected timetable is for when the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid upgrade will be fully operational.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
National Grid Electricity Transmission has now submitted its Development Consent Order application to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration. Government does not comment on the merits of live planning applications, which will be subject to rigorous, independent assessment and advice by the Examining Authority, to inform a final Ministerial decision.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department's consultation document entitled Scheme design for bill discounts for transmission network infrastructure published on 8 August 2025, on what date will communities affected by the construction of new transmission network infrastructure projects that are approved no longer be eligible to receive payments; and if he will make an estimate of the total cost of providing community benefits in relation to the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid Upgrade proposals.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We propose eligible households will start receiving a discount once main construction has begun and will receive a maximum of £250 per year for up to 10 years. It is our intention that the bill discount scheme will run for a set period of time, with a post-implementation review to be conducted 5 years into the scheme to determine whether it is working as envisioned. The aggregate cost associated with providing community benefits, both via the bill discount scheme and community funds, will be detailed in the Impact Assessment accompanying secondary legislation. The government does not comment on individual projects.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the potential contribution of the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid upgrade to his target for low carbon generation of electricity by 2030; and when he expects this infrastructure will be operational.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
National Grid have now submitted their Development Consent Order application to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration.
The Government does not comment on the merits of live planning applications, which, subject to the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to accept the application for examination, will be subject to rigorous, independent assessment and advice by the Examining Authority – to inform the Secretary of State’s final decision.
The project currently has an earliest in-service date 2031, and NESO’s independent advice on 2030 Clean Power demonstrates that failing to bring this forward to 2030 will reduce clean power on the GB grid by 1% and could increase constraint costs by £2.8bn p.a.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether (a) value for money assessments and (b) comparative value for money assessments for alternative proposals will be material planning considerations when determining applications covered by the proposed National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Draft updated National Policy Statements were published for consultation and laid before Parliament earlier this year. There are no proposed changes in regard to value for money assessments. Development proposals enter the planning system at different times (at the discretion of developers), and require decisions on development consent orders to be made within statutory timeframes accordingly. The planning system does not compare projects; each decision is based on the merits of each proposal.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether (a) value for money assessments of and (b) comparative value for money assessments of alternative projects proposed through the Development Consent Order process will be material planning considerations when determining applications covered by the proposed National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Infrastructure.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Draft updated National Policy Statements were published for consultation and laid before Parliament earlier this year. There are no proposed changes in regard to value for money assessments. Development proposals enter the planning system at different times (at the discretion of developers), and require decisions on development consent orders to be made within statutory timeframes accordingly. The planning system does not compare projects; each decision is based on the merits of each proposal.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he made representations to the Chinese Government on (a) the bounties placed by the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities on Hong Kongers living in the UK (b) concerns over human rights, (c) the effect of Hong Kong’s National Security Law and (d) the detention of Jimmy Lai during his recent visit to China.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This Government continues to stand firm on the issue of human rights in China, including relating to Hong Kong and Jimmy Lai. The recent visit by the Secretary of State gave the opportunity to discuss issues that matter to the UK with senior levels of the Chinese government, including areas where we disagree.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Households near new pylons to save hundreds on energy bills, published on 10 March 2025, when those measures will (a) be implemented and (b) come into effect; whether the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid Upgrade will be in scope; how many (i) households and (ii) landowners would receive financial support along the route of the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid Upgrade proposals; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the Norwich to Tilbury Great Grid Update of implementing those reforms.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The bill discount scheme will apply to eligible domestic residents and is planned to go live from 2026 once regulations have been laid, when Parliamentary time allows. Eligibility will be set out in regulations, but our aim is that major new transmission projects needed for 2030 will be eligible. Further impact analysis will be conducted prior to scheme introduction. The proposed funding mechanism is by an obligation on electricity suppliers, so it would not directly impact the cost of an infrastructure project. The Government has also published community funds guidance, which could apply to transmission projects yet to start construction.