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 tidal stream projects; and if he will set a target for marine energy generation.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Tidal stream is a home-grown industry of considerable promise, and the UK remains the world leader in tidal stream generation technologies, with almost half of the world's deployment of this cutting-edge approach situated in UK waters.
The Government announced on 7 July that over 40MW of new tidal stream power has been secured in Scotland and Wales via the flagship Contracts for Difference scheme. This will quintuple the UK’s installed capacity and could treble the global capacity of installed tidal stream capacity by 2027.
It provides the industry with the opportunity to demonstrate the cost-efficiency and proof of scalability that the Government needs to see from our sources of renewable electricity.
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, (a) what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing ongoing ringfenced support for tidal stream projects in the next contracts for difference scheme; and (b) what the timetable is for announcing the structure of Allocation Round 5 of that scheme.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is currently developing auction parameters for Allocation Round 5 of the Contracts for Difference scheme, including any for tidal stream, taking into account evidence of the pipeline of available projects. The Government will publish details of these parameters ahead of the round opening in March 2023.
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, in the context of the support being offered to households for gas and electricity costs, if he will take steps to cap the price retail consumers pay for heating oil.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government has no plans to introduce a price cap on alternative fuels.
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 decouple the cost to the consumer of renewable energy from fossil fuel energy sources on energy bills so that households can see the cost of renewable energy.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government intends to act at pace to address extraordinary profits that certain renewable generators are receiving from high wholesale electricity prices. We will act to break the link between high global gas prices and charges for low carbon electricity generation, enabling consumers to benefit from low-priced clean electricity while ensuring fair returns for generators.
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 ensure that the recent reduction in wholesale petrol and diesel costs is passed onto consumers.
Answered by Dean Russell
On the 11th June, the then Secretary of State wrote to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to request an urgent review of the fuel market, as well as a longer-term market study under the Enterprise Act 2002, to explore whether the retail fuel market has adversely affected consumer interests.
The CMA published their report on 8 July. Their initial findings indicated that the market for the supply of retail fuel in the UK appeared to be relatively competitive. On that basis we would expect reductions in wholesale costs to be passed onto consumers. Previous BEIS analysis has shown that both falls and rises in costs are passed through over the course of a few weeks.
The CMA did find some areas that warrant further investigation, and immediately launched a Market Study into the supply of road fuel in the UK. The study will enable the CMA to consider what more can be done to improve outcomes for consumers. It has said that it aims to complete this work well within the statutory 12 month time limit.