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The Government has laid out its plans for keeping the lights on and strengthening national energy infrastructure in response to a critical Commons report about UK energy resilience.

• Read the Full Report (HTML)
• Read the Full Report (PDF)
• Read all publications related to this inquiry, including oral and written evidence
• Inquiry: Enabling Sustainable Electrification of the UK Economy
• Environmental Audit Committee

In May, the predecessor Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) warned that the lack of long-term energy storage in the UK was driving the importation of gas so as to balance the nation’s energy needs. Market, policy and regulatory barriers were all holding back the development of long-term energy storage.

In its response to EAC’s report, the Government has set out the steps it is taking to remove market barriers so as to support the rollout of energy storage projects at scale, in order to keep the lights on when renewable energy generation is low. Ministers confirmed that the system of energy storage is being reviewed with the National Energy System Operator (NESO) to help make it fit for the future.

The EAC raised concerns that efforts to tackle the length of the queue for renewable energy projects to connect to the grid were not yet delivering: at the time the EAC report was published in May, the queue was actually getting longer. The Government has now given a commitment that it will align grid connections with strategic plans so as to accelerate connections for projects that are ready to generate electricity: the status of the queue will now be published, to allow for greater transparency.  

The Committee had concluded that energy infrastructure supply chains were often fragile and affected by global competition, undermining the UK’s electrification goals. It therefore called on the Government to enhance market certainty and to work with businesses to develop an electrification supply chain roadmap.

Chair quote

Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Toby Perkins MP, said:

“We are pleased to see the Government’s positive response to our predecessor Committee’s report, and look forward to seeing the concrete plans which will secure our energy security. 

“Addressing the grid constraints which could block the path to net zero is crucial, if the Government is to achieve its ambitions and clean up our energy supply. They explain that significant market barriers to long-term energy storage are to be identified, long-term energy storage will be rolled out and skills shortages in the sector are to be addressed: it is clear that the EAC’s advice has been taken seriously by the new Government.

“A root and branch approach is needed to transform the grid for clean energy and net zero: while there is significant work to be done, the policy progress by Government in response to Committee recommendations is promising. We look forward to discussing these issues with Ministers in more detail in the New Year.”