Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the (a) amount and (b) proportion of UK electricity supply will be provide by interconnectors in (a) 2020 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Claire Perry
The proportion of electricity that will be supplied by electricity imports by 2020 is expected to be 7.4%.
The power supply sector is projected using the reference case scenario from the Energy and Emissions Projections 2017 (published January 2018), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2017
Up to 2020, the reference scenario reflects current power sector policies. Beyond 2020, the reference scenario includes assumptions that go beyond current Government policy. The results do not indicate a preferred outcome and should be treated as illustrative.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many terawatt hours of electricity were consumed in the UK in the last 12 months.
Answered by Claire Perry
The most recent electricity consumption figures available cover the twelve month period from the start of July 2017 to the end of June 2018. During this period, total UK electricity demand was 355.1 terawatt hours. Subtracting energy industry usage, as well as transmission and distribution losses, the final electricity consumption by industry, business and domestic users in the UK was 301.7 terawatt hours during this period. These figures can be found on the National Statistics website here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many gigawhatt hours of electricity supplied by interconnectors was consumed in the UK in the last two 12 months periods.
Answered by Claire Perry
In the 12 months from the start of the third quarter of 2017 to the end of the second quarter 2018, 20,485.12 GWh were supplied by interconnector imports.
In the 12 months from the start of the third quarter of 2016 to the end of the second quarter 2017, 16,933.35 GWh were supplied by interconnector imports.
Source: Energy Trends, National Statistics, table 5.6 (published quarterly) available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many gigawatt hours of electricity was exported from the UK through interconnectors in (a) the last 12 months and (b) 2012.
Answered by Claire Perry
The total gigawatt hours of electricity exported from the UK through interconnectors in (a) the 12 months from the start of the third quarter of 2017 to the end of the second quarter of 2018 was 3,023.6 GWh, and (b) 1,910.39 GWh in 2012.
Source: Energy Trends, National Statistics, table 5.6 (published quarterly) available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of the UK electricity supply was provide by each fuel source including electricity provided by interconnectors in (a) 2012 and (b) 2017.
Answered by Claire Perry
The share of UK electricity generated domestically plus net imports, by each fuel source in a) 2012 and b) 2017 was:
| 2012 | 2017 |
Coal | 38.0% | 6.4% |
Oil | 0.8% | 0.5% |
Gas | 26.7% | 38.7% |
Nuclear | 18.7% | 19.9% |
Hydro | 1.4% | 1.7% |
Wind | 5.3% | 14.1% |
Solar photovoltaics | 0.4% | 3.3% |
Other renewables | 3.9% | 9.0% |
Other | 0.9% | 1.5% |
Pumped Storage | 0.8% | 0.8% |
Net imports | 3.2% | 4.2% |
Total generation plus net imports | 100.0% | 100.0% |
Source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics, tables 5.6 (generation by fuel), 6.4 (wind & solar) and 5.1 (net imports) https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-chapter-5-digest-of-united-kingdom-energy-statistics-dukes
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many terawatt hours of electricity have been imported into the UK by individual interconnectors since 2012.
Answered by Claire Perry
Between 2012 and 2017 (inclusive), GB imported 67.85 TWh of electricity via the IFA interconnector from France, 42.88 TWh of electricity via the BritNed interconnector from Netherlands, and 2.99 TWh of electricity via the East-West interconnector from Ireland. In addition, Northern Ireland imported 1.97 TWh of electricity from Ireland as part of the all-island, shared Single Electricity Market.
Source: Energy Trends, National Statistics, table 5.6 (published quarterly) available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will list the operational interconnectors in the UK and their capacity in megawatt.
Answered by Claire Perry
GB currently has 3.5GW (3500MW) of operational interconnection capacity to other countries: the 2GW (2000MW) IFA interconnector to France; the 1GW (1000MW) BritNed interconnector to Netherlands; and the 500MW East-West interconnector to Ireland.
In addition there are a number of smaller connections between Northern Ireland and Ireland as part of the all-island, shared Single Electricity Market, as well as the 500MW Moyle interconnector that links Northern Ireland to GB.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will list the proposed new interconnector capacity for (a) 2020 and (b) 2025 in megawatts.
Answered by Claire Perry
The UK has a pipeline of interconnector projects that are expected to play a role in providing reliable, affordable, and clean energy.
Based on current project timelines and assuming all projects are able to complete, 3GW (3000MW) of new interconnector capacity is due to be operational by the end of 2020. A further 1.4GW (1400MW) is also currently under construction for delivery after 2020 but before 2025. There are a further 9.5GW (9500MW) of projects which are seeking regulatory approval and which if constructed could be complete by 2025.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average price of electricity supplied by interconnectors was in the last year compared with the average price supplied by all other electricity generation in Great Britain.
Answered by Claire Perry
The electricity supplied over interconnections is traded by commercial parties, and we do not hold the information requested on the details of these trades.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average price is that interconnectors pay to use the electricity transmission network compared with the price paid by domestic generators of electricity.
Answered by Claire Perry
According to National Grid, the average transmission network use of system charge for a GB generator is £5.98 / kW (2018/19 tariffs). The actual tariff is dependent on the location of the generator, the historic load factor of the generator, the type of generator and details of its specific connection.
As interconnectors are part of the transmission network, they do not pay use of system charges for the network. Generators and consumers in different countries are liable for charges in those countries.