Powering Up Britain: Energy Security Plan

30 Mar 2023 04:37 PM

The Government have released a report, Powering Up Britain: Energy Security Plan today on 30 March 2023.

This report sets out the steps the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is taking to ensure the UK is more energy independent, secure and resilient. 

The plan will build on our ambitions set out in the British Energy Security Strategy and the Net Zero Strategy to enable the transformation of the energy system, so it is secure, low-cost, and low carbon. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are aiming for a doubling of Britain’s electricity generation capacity by the late 2030s, in line with the aim to fully decarbonise the power sector by 2035, subject to security of supply, whilst recognising the role that UK’s oil and gas sector will play in that transition. 

The Government will move towards energy independence by aiming for a doubling of Britain’s electricity generation capacity by the late 2030s but remain absolutely committed to maximising the vital production of UK oil and gas as the North Sea basin declines. Demand for oil, gas, and other fossil fuels will decline but they retain a crucial role.  They are critical transition fuels, key to ensuring secure energy supplies and will form an important part of our future economy.  

Objectives:

  1. Energy Efficiency
    • Ambition to reduce energy demand by 15% by 2030.
  2. Nuclear
    • One Final Investment Decision this parliament, progressing two in the next parliament.
    • Ambition to increase deployment of civil nuclear to up to 24 gigawatts by 2050 (up to 25% of projected demand)
  3. Renewables (Cross Cutting Developments and Solar)
    • Up to 70GW solar (roof and ground mounted) by 2035
  4. Renewables (Wind and Biomass)
    • Up to 50GW by 2030, including up to 5GW floating wind
  5. Hydrogen
    • Ambitions for up to 10GW of low-carbon hydrogen production capacity by 2030 with at least half from electrolytic hydrogen
    • Ambitions for up to 1 GW of CCUS-enabled and up to 1 GW of electrolytic production in operation or construction by 2025
    • Hydrogen Certification Scheme set up by 2025
    • Business models for hydrogen transport and storage designed by 2025
  6. Carbon Capture and Storage
    • Deploy 2 industrial clusters by the mid 2020s
    • Deploy at least one power CCUS plant by the mid 2020s
    • Deploy 4 industrial clusters by 2030
    • Capture 20-30mtCO2 pa by 2030, including 6mtCO2 pa from Industrial CCS by 2030
    • Deploy at least 5mtCO2 pa of engineered GHG removals (GGRs) by 2030
    • 50,000 jobs enabled by CCUS by 2030

Key Recommendations:

Digital Technology 

  1. The Government will enable the acceleration of low-carbon flexible technologies and services deployment through but not limited to:
    • Unlocking demand side flexibility and digitalisation at scale.
    • Updating and reforming electricity market arrangements and governance to support flexibility.
  2. The Government will deliver the Flexibility Innovation Programme, worth up to £65 million, which seeks to enable large-scale widespread electricity system flexibility. This has already awarded over £17.5 million to successful projects through competitions including Interoperable Demand Side Response, Alternative Energy Markets, Vehicle-to-Everything, Inclusive Smart Solutions and a range of Data and Digitalisation programmes. The Government will announce further recipients of funding in 2023.
  3. The Government will work with Ofgem and Innovate UK to roll out digitalisation within the energy sector, building on their response to the recommendations of the Energy Digitalisation Taskforce.
  4. In 2023, the Government will also assess evidence from innovation projects under the Net Zero Innovation Portfolio to identify the appropriate environment for energy data sharing and integration of digital energy infrastructure. This includes a feasibility study exploring the needs case, benefits, scope, and costs of an energy system ‘digital spine'. 

Members are invited to join a member call 11am on 4 April and please email Craig.Melson@techUK.org to find out more. To get involved with our work on climate please visit our Climate Action Hub.