The UK government has published its response today to the Climate Change Committee’s Annual Progress Report to Parliament which was released in June.
In the response London reaffirms its commitments to decarbonising the power system by 2035 and reaching 50GW of offshore wind by 2030.
The CCC recommended identifying a set of low-regret electricity and hydrogen infrastructure investments that can proceed now.
In its response the government agreed acceleration of electricity network delivery is key to meeting renewables ambitions and has already taken action to improve strategic planning and speed up consenting and regulatory approvals.
“Ofgem has accelerated the delivery of nearly £20 billion of strategic transmission projects, and we are supporting them to enable strategic investment in their regulatory frameworks more generally, as set out in the Strategy and Policy statement which is currently out for consultation,” stated the response.
The CCC’s report also recommended creating a minister-led infrastructure delivery group, advised by the new Electricity Networks Commissioner, to ensure enabling initiatives for energy infrastructure build are “taken forward at pace and necessary policy changes are implemented across the UK, to deliver a decarbonised and resilient power system by 2035”.
It added “this should bring together key senior parties in DESNZ, Ofgem, Defra, DLUHC, the Scottish and Welsh governments, the Future System Operator and asset owners, to deliver necessary policy changes and monitor progress across the initiatives so that swift action can be taken where required to expedite progress”.
In its response the government said it would not go as far as setting up a minister-led infrastructure delivery group but plans to create new minister-led governance processes with industry focussing on the acceleration of electricity transmission infrastructure.
It added that in addition to the remit of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero “policy and delivery are also supported by expert advice from bodies such as the National Infrastructure Commission as well as sector-based bodies, for example, the Offshore Wind Industry Council which provides a forum for industry, government and regulators to work collaboratively together”.
Commenting on the government’s response RenewableUK’s executive director of policy Ana Musat said the most important first step towards achieving targets will be delivering a successful Contracts for Difference auction in 2024.
“We must make up for the lost ground in this year’s auction which attracted no offshore wind bids because the government set the prices too low,” she said.
“We’re looking forward to Ministers setting out new parameters when they publish the framework for next year’s auction in November.”