Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans he has to make provision for alternate means of electricity generation (a) to replace ageing nuclear power stations and (b) to meet the reduction in carbon emissions required by the Industrial Emissions Directive.

The Government has a range of measures in place to secure investment in new electricity generation capacity. As part of our reforms to the electricity market we have introduced a Capacity Market which will ensure we have sufficient reliable capacity on the system to meet demand, and Contracts for Difference to ensure we get the investment we need in low carbon capacity to meet our carbon reduction objectives.

The Government is supporting industry’s construction of new nuclear power plants via facilitative actions. Industry is currently planning a capacity of 16GW or more by 2030, exceeding the 9.4GW capacity of the existing nuclear fleet.