Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential of combined heat and power systems; both as an alternative to gas and in relation to climate change targets.

In 2020, CHP represented 7.7% of the UK’s total electricity generation and 8.5% of gas demand. Approximately 85% of fuel used in CHPs in 2020 was fossil fuel (72% of which was natural gas). CHP plants are used by a wide variety of sectors, in particular chemicals, food and drink, paper and refining industries. CHPs are also used in large commercial and civic buildings with high heat demands, such as hospitals, hospitality and leisure facilities, retail outlets and heat networks.

The Government recognises the benefits CHP can bring, such as primary energy savings associated with making use of the heat from power generation compared to separate heat and power generation, and grid stability.

The Government continues to develop policies to support the decarbonisation of CHP in the future and is reviewing the potential role for CHP using various fuel sources going forward. As part of this review, we have published a call for evidence on CHP: Pathway to Decarbonisation that closes on 20 December 2021. In the Heat and Buildings Strategy, Government proposed to regularly review the contributions of different technologies.

As outlined in the Hydrogen Strategy, analysis indicates that boilers and CHP installations could make up around two thirds of demand for hydrogen fuel switching by 2030 in industrial sectors.