Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the quantity of natural gas reserves required to (a) maintain variable electricity generation and (b) meet electricity demand.

To ensure security of supply, the electricity system requires generating capacity that can dispatch power in the event of high peak demand, unexpected outage or during periods of low renewable output. As we transition to clean power the government will work with the private sector to ensure flexible technologies such as hydrogen, long duration electricity storage and power with carbon capture and storage are deployed.

Unabated gas will increasingly move to a backup role as low carbon alternatives deploy. We will continue to develop our strategy to enable a transition away from unabated gas whilst maintaining security of supply.