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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) onshore wind needed to reach the new target for decarbonising the electricity by 2035, and (b) implications of that matter for levelling up the economy.

As set out in the Net Zero Strategy, a low-cost, net zero consistent, electricity system is most likely to be composed predominantly of wind and solar, complemented by other low carbon generation technologies such as nuclear and power CCUS to ensure security of supply and a significant increase in flexibility.

However, as set out in the Energy White Paper a sustained increase of locally supported onshore wind in the 2020s and beyond will be required to meet out Carbon Budget 6 target. Onshore wind and other established renewable technologies such as solar PV will be able to compete in the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round, opening in December 2021. Government is seeking up to 5GW of capacity from established renewables technologies, with a £10m budget, which will support investment in all parts of Great Britain.