Asked by: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of pot two of the contract for difference allocation round six in the context of the eligibility of the Green Volt floating offshore wind project.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
National Grid (ESO) is currently assessing applications to Allocation Round 6 of the Contracts for Difference scheme. Once all applications have been reviewed and any appeals processes completed, my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State will have the opportunity to consider revising the budget.
Asked by: Neil Coyle (Labour - Bermondsey and Old Southwark)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to page 7 of the document entitled ICF Brazil: Summary, published in March 2024, when the Government plans to disburse its £115 million contribution to the Amazon Fund.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK is the third biggest contributor of climate finance to Brazil, with more than £400 million committed. The UK’s contribution supports initiatives under the Green and Inclusive Growth partnership to help Brazil’s economic transition to net zero, reduce deforestation rates and support Brazil’s ambition to develop a bioeconomy which values standing forest and supports local communities’ livelihoods. At COP 28 the UK signed a legal agreement with the Amazon Fund and an initial disbursement is planned for 2024.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will make an estimate of the number of kilometres of transmission network that will be added to the electricity grid in the (a) 2020s, (b) 2030s and (c) 2040s.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department does not estimate the future size of the transmission network. The Electricity System Operator, along with Transmission Operators and Ofgem, is responsible for the development of the network. The ESO is required to publish annual recommendations for which transmission network reinforcement projects should receive investment, but this does not include data on the length of projects. The latest recommendations, published in the 'Beyond 2030' report, cover network needs up to the mid-2030s. The report is available on the ESO's website.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Wansbeck)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact of the establishment of a data centre at the Cambois site on the availability of the industrial land to provide the additional electricity infrastructure needed for a gigafactory at that site.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Assessing the impact of new projects connecting to the electricity grid, such as data centres, and designing the network to do so, is the responsibility of licensed electricity network companies, regulated independently by Ofgem.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much (a) private sector investment and (b) public sector funding there has been for (i) onshore wind, (ii) offshore wind and (iii) solar power in each financial year since 2009-10.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Based on data from BloombergNEF, total investment into UK offshore wind, onshore wind and solar PV was £143bn over 2009-2023 (converted to real 2023 prices, nearest £bn). For these technologies, a record £19bn was in 2023, helping the renewable share of total UK electricity generation increase from 7% in 2010 to nearly 50% in 2023.
In the UK, renewables receive levy-funded support through legacy schemes (Renewables Obligation [RO] and Feed-in Tariffs [FiTs]), and our Contracts for Difference (CfD) mechanism. The OBR regularly publish estimates of levy spend for the prior financial year across the RO and CfD schemes, and Ofgem publishes estimates for FiTs, aggregated for all renewables. For the CfD scheme only, the LCCC publish data at a technology and plant level.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information her Department holds on the year in which the highest level of private sector investment into renewable sources of power generation was recorded.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Based on data from BloombergNEF, total investment into UK offshore wind, onshore wind and solar PV was £143bn over 2009-2023 (converted to real 2023 prices, nearest £bn). For these technologies, a record £19bn was in 2023, helping the renewable share of total UK electricity generation increase from 7% in 2010 to nearly 50% in 2023.
In the UK, renewables receive levy-funded support through legacy schemes (Renewables Obligation [RO] and Feed-in Tariffs [FiTs]), and our Contracts for Difference (CfD) mechanism. The OBR regularly publish estimates of levy spend for the prior financial year across the RO and CfD schemes, and Ofgem publishes estimates for FiTs, aggregated for all renewables. For the CfD scheme only, the LCCC publish data at a technology and plant level.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what volume of gas was imported from Russia in 2023.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
In 2023, the UK did not import any gas from Russia. The last import of gas from Russia to the UK was in March 2022 (Energy Trends Table 4.4).
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many kilometres of transmission network were added to the electricity grid in the period (a) between 1994 and 1999, (b) between 2000 and 2009, (c) between 2010 and 2019 and (d) since 2019.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department does not hold historic data of annual transmission network build. As stated in the Electricity Networks Strategic Framework, in 2021 there were approximately 20,000km of onshore high voltage transmission cables in the UK.
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate she has made of what (a) peak and (b) total electricity demand will be in (i) 2025, (ii) 2030, (iii) 2035, (iv) 2040, (v) 2045 and (vi) 2050.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Total demand and peak demand figures corresponding to the latest scenarios published in Annex O of the Energy and Emission Projections[1] are:
|
| 2025 | 2030 | 2035 | 2040 | 2045 | 2050 |
Total Demand (TWh) | Low | 309 | 362 | 449 | 482 | 535 | 580 |
| High | 310 | 363 | 483 | 563 | 656 | 771 |
Peak Demand (GW) | Low | 59 | 74 | 94 | 105 | 119 | 131 |
| High | 59 | 74 | 107 | 139 | 166 | 191 |
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-and-emissions-projections-2021-to-2040
Asked by: Selaine Saxby (Conservative - North Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate she has made of the levelised cost of electricity from hydrogen fired power stations that are due to be commissioned before 2030.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Electricity generation costs 2023 report published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero sets out the assumptions for a hydrogen-fired Combined Cycle Hydrogen Turbine (CCHT) power plant commissioned between 2025-2030. The cost of the electricity was stated as £111/MWh for a baseload CCHT commissioning in 2025 and £108/MWh for 2030.
Hydrogen to Power is an emerging technology and as such all figures are subject to change. We will continue to monitor and update cost estimates based on new evidence as it becomes available. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-generation-costs-2023.