Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to store wind energy generated at night for use during days of high demand and low wind.

The Government’s approach to electricity storage is focussed on providing regulatory clarity and removing barriers to deployment, with actions laid out in the 2021 Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan. There is currently around 4GW of storage operational in GB. 3GW of this is pumped hydro storage and 1GW is newer lithium-ion battery storage.

The Government is reviewing responses to the Call for Evidence on large-scale, long-duration electricity storage published last year, alongside analysis we commissioned on the role of this type of storage in the electricity system. The Government is aiming to publish a response in due course. The Government also has plans to produce hydrogen from electrolysis as part of the Hydrogen Strategy, published in August 2021.