Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including air-to-air heat pumps in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not currently support air-to-air heat pumps, as heat pump installations must provide both space heating and hot water heating, using liquid as a medium for delivering that heat. In most cases, air-to-air systems only provide space heating, with many installations still reliant on burning fossil fuels for hot water. We want to target support at technologies that offer the greatest potential to decarbonise our buildings.
However, the Government will keep its position on alternative electric heating technologies under review, and would consult industry and key stakeholders on any potential changes to the scheme before making any decisions.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he has taken to develop the skills and workforce needed for the energy transition.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Office for Clean Energy Jobs (OCEJ) has been created to ensure that clean energy jobs are abundant, high quality, paid fairly, and have favourable terms and good working conditions.
The OCEJ is engaging widely with industry, experts, and trade unions for a clear assessment of the skills opportunities and challenges. It is working closely with Skills England to ensure that skills systems reforms support the clean energy transition.
The OCEJ will also set out targeted interventions to support specific skills needs in the clean energy workforce. It has recently launched the initial version of the Energy Skills Passport to support oil and gas workers into new roles in the clean energy sector.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of air-to-air heat pumps for making homes more climate resilient.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The department is currently developing the Warm Homes Plan to ensure that homes are fit for the future. The department has been carrying out research to respond to the relevant climate change adaptation risks identified by the third Climate Change Risk Assessment.
This research is closing evidence gaps identifying the buildings most vulnerable to extreme heat and where these are located, as well as appropriate adaptation solutions. This includes considering the role of technologies, such as air-to-air heat pumps. This work is informing the development of the Warm Homes Plan.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of modelling sector coupling between electricity and hydrogen for the UKs energy system.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department’s UK TIMES model captures interactions across the entire energy system, from fuel extraction to final energy demands, enabling comprehensive analysis of decarbonisation pathways and helping us explore the optimal future energy system. This model has been instrumental in developing departmental net zero strategy, including our understanding of the future power sector. Building on this, DESNZ recently invested in BID3, a new model designed to simulate a fully connected power and hydrogen market across the UK and EU. BID3 will model power generation, hydrogen production, transmission, gas transport, interconnectors, and storage, allowing comparison of whole-life system costs and cashflow, across future scenarios.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what strategies he he is considering for decarbonising hard-to-electrify industrial processes located in towns located away from industrial clusters.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Dispersed locations form a major part of UK industry’s pathway to Net Zero, accounting for approximately half of emissions. The £6 million Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans competition is funding 13 decarbonisation projects in local clusters, including in areas with hard-to-electrify industrial processes, supporting dispersed industrial manufacturers not located in the UK’s existing industrial clusters to start their journey towards Net Zero.
Government is also providing decarbonisation support to dispersed sites through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF). In the 2024 Autumn Budget, the Government committed £163 million to continue delivery for all current projects of the IETF through to completion.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has plans for the strategic development of hydrogen storage facilities at a sufficient scale to support (a) inter-day and (b) inter-week energy storage.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to enabling the development of hydrogen storage infrastructure to meet the needs of the emerging hydrogen economy. This includes supporting the development of storage infrastructure that can operate over a range of durations and serve multiple end-users.
The Government intends to design the first Hydrogen Storage Business Model (HSBM) procurement to contribute towards an ambition to support up to two storage projects at scale to be in operation or construction by 2030.
We are continuing to develop our approach to the development of hydrogen storage infrastructure through strategic planning and the HSBM as a priority.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what plans his Department has for the development of heat networks in areas located away from existing industrial or natural heat sources?.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Committee for Climate Change has recommended the government grows the heat network sector from providing 3% of national heat demand to 20% by 2050. We are implementing heat network zoning and funding low carbon heat networks to get to this scale.
Heat networks can use a variety of heat sources such as heat from industry and natural heat sources such as rivers. Where industrial or natural heat sources are not available heat networks can use large air-source heat pumps. When deployed in the right locations will be lower cost for consumers than other low-carbon individual heating systems.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of expanding financial support for heat pump installation to include air-to-air heat pumps for domestic applications.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme does not currently support air-to-air heat pumps, as heat pump installations must provide both space heating and hot water heating, using liquid as a medium for delivering that heat. In most cases, air-to-air systems only provide space heating, with many installations still reliant on burning fossil fuels for hot water. We want to target support at technologies that offer the greatest potential to decarbonise our buildings.
However, the Government will keep its position on alternative electric heating technologies under review, and would consult industry and key stakeholders on any potential changes to the scheme before making any decisions.
Asked by: Tom Collins (Labour - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has plans for the development of heat networks in areas located away from existing (a) industrial or (b) natural heat sources.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Committee for Climate Change has recommended the government grows the heat network sector from providing 3% of national heat demand to 20% by 2050. We are implementing heat network zoning and funding low carbon heat networks to get to this scale.
Heat networks can use a variety of heat sources such as heat from industry and natural heat sources such as rivers. Where industrial or natural heat sources are not available heat networks can use large air-source heat pumps. When deployed in the right locations will be lower cost for consumers than other low-carbon individual heating systems.