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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions officials in his Department have had with Ofgem on the balance of reactive power in the UK’s electricity grid (a) as of 9 November 2021 and (b) in the future.

Managing reactive power services is the responsibility of National Grid Electricity System Operator (NGESO). NGESO instructs generators or other asset owners to either absorb or generate reactive power.

NGESO periodically updates BEIS and Ofgem on this as part of our regular schedule of engagement to understand electricity system operability matters.

NGESO will publish its annual Operability Strategy Report by the end of the year, which considers system needs such as reactive power and how these needs will be met in the future.