Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the UK’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure to support the transition required under the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure that public charging provision, grid capacity, and local authority support keep pace with the increased number of electric vehicles expected as a result of the zero emission vehicles mandate on the automotive industry.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As of March 2025, there are over 118,000 public chargers across the UK. Both the 2024 NAO ‘public chargepoints for electric vehicles’ report, and the Climate Change Committee 2025 Progress report, concluded that charge point rollout is on track.
The majority of public chargepoints will be delivered by industry, who have already committed £6 billion of private sector investment before 2030. The Government’s £400 million Local Electric Vehicle (EV) Infrastructure Fund supports local authorities in England to leverage significant private investment and is expected to deliver over 100,000 further local public charge points.
We are confident that the Grid can support the transition to EVs. The National Energy System Operator is investing over £58 billion to modernise and expand the electricity network.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of battery storage technology for large-scale grid stabilisation.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Battery energy storage systems can play an important role in large-scale grid stabilisation, depending on the type of inverter technology used and their location on the network. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) is responsible for grid stability, and the department works with NESO to ensure that we have the resources needed for secure system operation. Battery energy storage systems with grid-forming capabilities were trialled on the Stability Pathfinder programme and are now eligible to apply into the Stability Market which offers a route for NESO to procure these services through a transparent and competitive market.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the number of renewable energy projects awaiting grid connection in NE Somerset and Hanham; and what steps he is taking to reduce connection delays.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Information on projects holding connection agreements is available at TEC Register | National Energy System Operator for transmission projects and National Grid - Embedded capacity register for distribution projects in the South-West. However, data is categorised by grid connection point, not geographic location of projects.
At transmission level, Government is working with National Energy System Operator, network companies and Ofgem to prioritise connections for viable projects that meet our strategic needs. In addition, in its end-to-end review, Ofgem is proposing measures to hold network companies more to account on timely delivery of connections, to both the transmission and distribution networks.
Asked by: Graham Leadbitter (Scottish National Party - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that large electricity users such as data centres contribute to system investment and operation through flexibility and demand management when connecting to the electricity network.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government, NESO and Ofgem have worked together with industry to identify specific actions to support an increase in large non-domestic consumer-led flexibility, setting those actions out in the Clean Flexibility Roadmap, published in 2025.
Data centres, like other non-domestic users, can play a role in being flexible with their usage, generating system benefits that will help all energy users. Government is currently consulting on whether some categories of large demand users should be required to provide a minimum level of demand flexibility as a condition of connection.
Asked by: Clive Jones (Liberal Democrat - Wokingham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to help ensure that an accurate record exists of which homes are reliant on Home Heating Oil for heating.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Information on the heating fuels used by households is published by the Office for National Statistics and the Devolved Administrations. For more information, please see here - Constituency data: Households off the gas grid - House of Commons Library
The Government has made £53 million of additional support available to help low-come households who use heating oil. In England this has been allocated to Local Authorities via the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF). Households should apply to their local authority and provide any evidence that is requested.
Asked by: Lord Berkeley (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have received from shipping operators about concerns about the absence of sufficient shore-power infrastructure, limited port grid capacity and lack of alternative fuels at scale; and what plans they have to address those concerns before the commencement of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme for the maritime sector.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Following the launch of the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy in March 2025, the Government has extensively engaged with shipping operators, ports, and the wider maritime sector. This includes engagement on shore power availability, grid capacity constraints and alternative fuels. We ran a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports that gathered evidence on current and future grid capacity at ports, as well as drivers of that future energy demand, and will continue working with industry to understand their needs.
This Government has worked with the National Energy System Operator and Ofgem to implement bold new reforms to the grid connections process. We are committed to ensuring ports future energy needs are taken into account as part of reforms and future planning of the network, and to working with industry to understand wider challenges such as energy costs.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment the Department has made of the potential merits of installing solar photovoltaic generation directly on railway infrastructure to provide lower cost electricity for the rail network and to reduce reliance on new national grid connections.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government has established Great British Energy and is committed to significantly increasing the amount of renewable energy generation in the UK by 2030.
Network Rail purchases electricity for the railway and is committed to transitioning to renewable energy for both the electricity it uses for its own operations, and the electricity to power trains. Network Rail already generates some of this electricity on the rail estate and is continuing the roll out of new renewable generation assets (primarily solar) on the estate.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that any community energy (a) definition and (b) register developed for England does not prevent Distribution Network Operators from prioritising grid connections for Welsh community energy projects that contribute to Welsh Government targets for locally owned energy.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is in the process of creating a definition of ‘Community Energy Group’ to provide clarity for communities seeking to form community energy groups and prevent the misuse of the designation.
The Department also recognises that community energy projects may need greater support in the connections process.
DESNZ is working alongside Ofgem, Great British Energy, the National Energy System Operator (NESO), network operators and community energy stakeholders to explore grid connection regulatory and policy initiatives that will improve the experience of connecting customers, including community energy projects across the UK.
Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Whitehead on Thursday 26 February (HL Deb col 742), what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the protocol to surround a fire with safety measures and allow it to burn out in controlling and extinguishing fires and thermal runaways caused by battery energy storage facilities.
Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
It is the responsibility of fire and rescue services to determine an appropriate firefighting strategy in the event of a battery thermal runaway event. The National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) has published guidance for local fire and rescue services on grid-scale batteries, to enable effective operational pre-planning.
Government has confidence in the NFCC and local fire and rescue services being best placed to make these assessments.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether any definition or register of community energy organisations established under the Local Power Plan will allow Distribution Network Operators to identify eligible Welsh community energy projects and apply proportionate flexibility in the connections pipeline without breaching existing licence obligations.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department is in the process of creating a definition of ‘Community Energy Group’ to provide clarity for communities seeking to form community energy groups and prevent the misuse of the designation.
The Department also recognises that community energy projects may need greater support in the connections process.
DESNZ is working alongside Ofgem, Great British Energy, the National Energy System Operator (NESO), network operators and community energy stakeholders to explore grid connection regulatory and policy initiatives that will improve the experience of connecting customers, including community energy projects across the UK.