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 ensure the adequacy of generating capacity after the Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors are decommissioned in 2023.

The Capacity Market is securing the capacity required to meet peak electricity demand through auctions held four and one year ahead of delivery. It supports technically reliable existing plant to remain in the market and, as coal and other ageing plant retire, it strengthens incentives for new plant to be financed and built.

The Capacity Market has already secured over 5.4GW of new build capacity for delivery between 2018/19 and 2021/22. Alongside traditional gas generation, significant levels of alternative, innovative new capacity, such as demand-side response (DSR) and battery storage, has been brought forward. This wide range of new resources is helping deliver the security, reliability and flexibility that the country needs.

Other measures being taken to ensure the security of electricity supply include the broadening of the UK’s generation base through the deployment of new nuclear generation, with Hinkley Point C under construction, and offshore wind.