Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield on 27 June (HL 8452), whether the analysis by the National Energy System Operator drew directly on (1) information published in audited accounts of special purpose vehicles (SPVs), (2) Gordon Hughes' analysis of 247 SPVs for wind projects published in Wind Power Economics: Rhetoric and Reality, Volume 1 – Wind Power Costs in the United Kingdom published in 2020, or (3) Gordon Hughes' analysis of 301 SPVs for solar projects published in The economics of utility-scale solar generation published in 2022; and if not, what was the source for their estimates of the capital and operating costs of wind and solar projects
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is an operationally independent public body, and the Department does not hold information on the methodology used in their analysis. I have instructed officials to contact NESO to request a response to the noble Lord, and a copy of their reply will be placed in the Libraries of the House.