Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
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 revenue that would accrue to the Scottish Government as a consequence of the additional energy transmission from Scotland that will be put on the national grid under the transitional centralised strategic network plan.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The transitional centralised strategic network plan (tCSNP) will connect offshore wind projects from the ScotWind seabed leasing round. Once operational, projects will pay rent to the Crown Estate Scotland which pays its profits to Scottish Government. The amount of revenue from rent will depend upon the amount of electricity generated.
Independent analysis commissioned by the Electricity System Operator suggests that, by 2035, recommendations in the CSNP report could add up to £5.22 billion to the Scottish economy and support an average of 6,000 jobs each year.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what the proposed additional (a) cable and (b) grid connections will be between (i) Scotland and Scottish Waters and (ii) the rest of the UK as part of the transitional centralised strategic network plan.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Electricity System Operator’s (ESO) report: ‘Beyond 2030: a national blueprint for a decarbonised electricity system’ includes proposals to install new circuits to reinforce the network between Scotland and the rest of Great Britain, helping to connect the ScotWind projects to the Great Britain electricity grid and transmit the electricity on to consumers. The total capacity of the additional links between Scotland and the rest of Great Britain is 6.8GW. More detail is included in the ESO’s report.
Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the electricity transmission network is sufficient to allow for the replacement of the Port Talbot steel works blast furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
Answered by Lord Offord of Garvel - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Tata Steel and National Grid have been working closely to ensure the deliverability of a grid connection in line with the project requirements.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has had recent discussions with National Grid on the installation of large electricity pylons in the countryside.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government does not plan or develop energy infrastructure and the regulatory framework for the UK's independent energy industry is set by Ofgem. Ministers and officials engage with National Grid Electricity Transmission regularly as part of the usual policy making process. This includes but is not limited to discussing network infrastructure. My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State last met senior representatives from National Grid on Tuesday 12th March at a stakeholder reception.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions she has had with the National Grid on improving the timetable for connecting infrastructure projects to the national grid.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is working with Ofgem, the Electricity System Operator and network companies to accelerate network connections. Since the Connections Action Plan[1] was published in November 2023, over 40GW of projects have been offered earlier grid connection dates, accelerating up to £40bn of investment. In the coming months we will decide on further action to ensure only viable projects can retain their connection agreements. In addition, from next January a new process will prevent projects being offered a specific connection date until they demonstrate sufficient progress towards connecting to the grid.
[1] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/655dd873d03a8d001207fe56/connections-action-plan.pdf
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many projects that have been granted grid access which have (a) stalled and (b) ceased entirely have been removed from the national grid connection queue in the last year.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Data from the Electricity System Operator (ESO) shows that 31 projects have been removed from the transmission connections queue since 1 March 2023. Of these 31 projects, 13 terminated their agreements voluntarily as part of the ESO’s Transmission Entry Capacity (TEC) Amnesty.
As set out at Budget, the ESO has begun the process of inserting delivery milestones into over 1000 connection agreements, enabling it to terminate stalled projects from Autumn 2024. The Government will also work with the ESO and network companies to outline further reforms by summer 2024 to raise barriers to entering and remaining in the queue.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
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 potential merits of imposing financial penalties on network companies that fail to deliver grid connections on schedule.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The regulatory framework for electricity network connections is a matter for the independent regulator, Ofgem. As set out in the Connections Action Plan[1], Ofgem is undertaking a full review of existing incentives and obligations on parties, including network companies, relating to connections to ensure they are fit for purpose. This will include consideration of the use of financial incentives and penalties, as well as other regulatory levers. Ofgem will report its findings by the end of June.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to (a) support the manufacturing sector and (b) help increase national productivity.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The government has a strong track record of backing the sector and in November published our Advanced Manufacturing Plan (AMP) which aims to make the UK the best place in the world to start, scale up and invest in manufacturing.
Our plan, which builds on our extensive existing support, is underpinned by a £4.5bn commitment for strategic manufacturing sectors to 2030, a further £16 million to expand SME digital adoption through Made Smarter, provides tax relief and includes measures aimed at improving our business environment including grid connection, supply chain resilience and the UKs first Battery Strategy.
Made Smarter equips businesses with funding and tailored advise from specialists on the successful adoption of applications such as machine learning, data/systems integration and robotics to help drive efficiency, increase automation and raise productivity.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to households of curtailing wind generation due to a lack of grid capacity.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The National Grid Electricity System Operator is responsible for managing constraints and annual network constraint costs for 2022 were £2.0bn (2023 prices). Constraints are a natural part of operating an efficient electricity system, and balancing the network by curtailing wind and turning up alternative generation can be an efficient way to manage these.
Necessary grid infrastructure improvements are being made to manage the level of constraints on the system and ensure the UK's homes can be powered by clean, green energy in future.
Asked by: Thérèse Coffey (Conservative - Suffolk Coastal)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, (a) how many and (b) which companies applied to be part of an Offshore Coordination Support Scheme pilot.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Offshore Coordination Support Scheme initially received five applications, three of which were removed by developers at the Down-Selection Point where more than one application had been submitted for the same project. Following an in-depth Value for Money and eligibility assessment, the Government allocated funding to a consortium of North Falls Offshore Wind Farm, Five Estuaries Offshore Wind Farm and Sea Link (National Grid Electricity Transmission).