Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 help put in place long-term liquified natural gas contracts with counterparties including Qatar and the United States to secure security of supply.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Energy security is an absolute priority for this Government. The Government has highly diverse and flexible sources of gas supply and a diverse electricity mix, which ensure that households, businesses and heavy industry get the energy they need. Despite the high prices, the market continues to balance supply and demand.
The Government already receives regular shipments of liquified natural gas (LNG) from Qatar, and other LNG suppliers, as part of existing commercial arrangements between buyers and sellers.
The Government has regular discussions with key energy partners around the world ahead of winter and to discuss the global transition to clean energy.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of further increasing investment in (a) onshore wind, (b) solar, (c) tidal and (d) other renewable energy sources such in order to further diversify energy generation in the UK; what steps he is taking to support the development of energy storage facilities; and what his planned timetable is for publishing the findings of the call for evidence on large scale, long duration energy storage.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme is the Government’s main mechanism for supporting new low-carbon electricity generation projects in Great Britain. The fourth allocation round of the CfD scheme (AR4) opened on 13 December 2021 and aims to secure more low-carbon electricity capacity than the previous three rounds combined. AR4 is open to an expanded number of renewable technologies, including offshore wind, onshore wind, solar, tidal stream and floating offshore wind. In February, the Government also announced that the next CfD allocation round will be brought forward to March 2023, and future rounds will run annually, rather than every two years, thereafter. This will support renewable electricity producers and further drive deployment of renewable power.
In 2019 BEIS launched the Storage at Scale competition, which funded demonstration facilities for two innovative energy storage facilities. In 2021, BEIS launched a further programme, The Longer Duration Energy Storage competition. In February 2022, BEIS announced funding for 24 projects under this competition to perform engineering design or feasibility studies of their technologies. The Government is reviewing the responses to the Call for Evidence on large-scale, long-duration electricity storage, alongside analysis the Department commissioned on the role of this type of storage in the electricity system. The Government will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 support people in rural communities who are not on the mains gas network and rely on liquified natural gas or oil for heating their homes.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has allocated £1.1 billion to the Home Upgrade Grant over the next three years, which will be delivered from early 2022 to March 2025. The Home Upgrade Grant will provide energy efficiency upgrades and low-carbon heating to low-income households living off the gas grid in England, tackling fuel poverty and helping households meet net zero.
Consumers of heating oil and liquified petroleum gas will be eligible for the £200 energy rebate as long as they are also domestic electricity customers. Financial support remains available for heating oil customers with energy bills, if eligible, through the Warm Home Discount, Winter Fuel Payment and Cold Weather Payment schemes. More information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/browse/benefits/low-income.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 help and encourage households to improve energy efficiency.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has committed to spend more than £6.6 billion in this Parliament to decarbonise heat and buildings, including across all housing tenures. Support is especially targeted at lower-income households through schemes such as the Home Upgrade Grant, Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Local Authority Delivery Scheme. In addition to this, the Government has committed to a four-year £4 billion extension to the Energy Company Obligation. This aims to accelerate efforts to improve lower-income homes to meet fuel poverty targets.
Meanwhile, the new Boiler Upgrade Scheme will support homeowners with the cost of installing new lower-carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps, in their homes. The Government is also working with lenders to ensure homeowners can access green finance to improve their homes through measures such as insulation and new heating systems. As part of this work, the £1.8million Green Home Finance Innovation Fund will be complete by March 2022.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including people who claim disability benefit in the eligibility criteria for the Warm Home Discount.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has consulted on reforming the Warm Home Discount scheme to better target fuel poverty and to provide the rebates automatically to households, as announced in the Energy White Paper. The reforms include focusing support on households in receipt of qualifying means tested benefits and with high energy costs.
Disability benefits like the Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment are not means tested. The incomes of Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independence Payment recipients therefore tend to be higher than the incomes of the intended beneficiaries of the reformed Warm Home Discount. The Government’s analysis shows that around 62% of these recipients are also in receipt of a qualifying means-tested benefits and so would be considered low income under the new criteria. Introducing disability or other non-means-tested benefits would mean that households on lower incomes and in deeper fuel poverty would lose out.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 (a) improve resilience in the national electricity grid system so that blackout events, such as that which occurred after Storm Arwen, are not repeated, and (b) ensure that should blackout events occur after storm situations, emergency and response services have means to power their electric vehicles and equipment, and (c) diversify sources of energy so that at times of low wind and solar power, there is sufficient energy to meet demand from non-fossil fuel sources.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has commissioned a post-incident review into Storm Arwen to identify lessons and best practice for communications, resourcing and system resilience.
As the independent regulator for energy, Ofgem has also announced it will undertake a review into the impact of Storm Arwen. This will focus on the role of the network companies in maintaining the resilience of the system and their emergency response.
The Government is committed to maintaining high levels of energy resilience as the sector decarbonises. Great Britain benefits from a diverse electricity mix and is therefore not dependent on any one technology or market participant to ensure security of supply.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a ringfenced contract for difference scheme for tidal stream energy; what steps he is taking to support the development of tidal stream renewable energy; and what his timetable is for the announcement of a ringfenced contract for difference for tidal stream energy.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government continues to finalise the arrangements and parameters for the fourth Contracts for Difference allocation round (CfD AR4), including any technology-specific budget ringfencing. In line with statutory timescales, the Government will announce these finalised arrangements before CfD AR4 opens in December 2021.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the economic and strategic value of thermal hydraulic testing to current and future nuclear power plants, including large-scale, small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Thermal hydraulic testing is essential for designing safe and efficient nuclear power stations and in ensuring their safe operation throughout the many decades they are expected to generate electricity.
The Government are currently considering the business case for national thermal hydraulic research and testing facility, including the economic and strategic benefits such a facility might bring to the UK.
The Government is grateful to my Hon. Friend and other local stakeholders in Anglesey for their active input to this proposal.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits that a national thermal hydraulics facility can play in supporting the development and deployment of (a) small modular reactors and (b) advanced modular reactors at Wylfa and other sites in Wales.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department is aware of the potential benefits that could be brought by having a National Thermal Hydraulic Facility close to potential sites for new nuclear deployment and is considering those as part of the business case for such a facility.
Asked by: Virginia Crosbie (Conservative - Ynys Môn)
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 towards locating the National Thermal Hydraulics Facility (NTHF) on Anglesey following the commitment to site a NTHF in North Wales in the 2018 Nuclear Sector Deal.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department is currently considering the business case for a National Thermal Hydraulic Facility in North Wales. Officials are in regular contact with key stakeholders, including with my Hon. Friend the member for Ynys Mon, to assess possible sites in North Wales.