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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential effect of rises in sea levels on the operation of coastal power stations.

Great Britain has a reliable energy system and maintaining a safe and resilient energy supply is a key priority for this Government.

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) works with industry, regulators, sector bodies and other stakeholders to improve and maintain the resilience of the energy infrastructure, networks and assets, to reduce vulnerabilities, and ensure an effective response to actual or potentially disruptive incidents.

The 2008 Climate Change Act gave the Government powers to require organisations such as electricity generating companies, to carry out climate change risk assessments on their assets, and report on how they are adapting to climate change.

Through this work, generating companies have assessed that, due to the robust flood mitigation measures that have been put in place, existing assets are at low risk from climate related hazards such as flooding.

Additionally, planning applications for all new build power stations must demonstrate that companies have adequately taken into account the potential impacts of climate change, in their design. This ensures that our power stations continue to remain resilient to future climate related risks.