Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to his keynote speech at the Energy UK conference 2024 on 17 September 2024, what steps he plans to take to help protect communities with an above-average number of substations resulting from high volumes of large projects being simultaneously submitted by different developers.

The strategic network planning processes led by the Government’s new National Energy System Operator ensures community impact is considered when recommendations for new transmission infrastructure are made and that new infrastructure locations are considered strategically and sensitively. Where such infrastructure is needed, developers seek to reduce impacts through its design.

It is also important to this Government that, where communities host clean energy infrastructure, they should directly benefit from it, and we are considering how to most effectively deliver this. This includes developing guidance on community benefits for electricity transmission network infrastructure, which we will publish in due course.