Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the combined potential impact of multiple gas-fired plant retirements on (a) grid stability and (b) inertia levels.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great Britain has a highly stable and resilient energy system with diverse supplies.
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) continuously monitors the electricity system and ensures sufficient inertia and negative and positive reserves to manage large generation or demand losses, including through retirements of gas plant. In the transition to clean power, we are deploying the technologies needed to ensure the energy system remains resilient. In Great Britain, for example, NESO procure alternative technologies such as synchronous condensers and flywheels and use sub-second response services to manage frequency changes and maintain system stability.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of using community benefit funds from renewable energy projects to provide fuel vouchers to low-income households on levels of energy affordability.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
On 21 May, the government published a working paper on community benefits and shared ownership of low carbon energy infrastructure. The government recognises that community benefit funding from renewable energy infrastructure creates opportunities for long term investment into host communities, and the government believes that funding packages will have the most impact if they can be tailored to the community’s preferences and priorities. The working paper intends to gather insight on how prescriptive the government should be on how funds can be used, and any other factors that should be considered in order to maximise their impact.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how he plans to improve the integration of (a) demand-side response and (b) distributed energy resources to help reduce risks of blackouts in the next five years.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Great Britain has a highly resilient energy network. The National Energy System Operator has all the tools it needs to operate the electricity system reliably and can call on a range of technologies to balance electricity supply and demand, including gas-fired generation and flexible technologies such as batteries and demand side response.
The Clean Power 2030 Action Plan sets out measures to increase consumer led flexibility (also known as demand-side response). Further details will be set out in the Clean Flexibility Roadmap that Government committed in the Action Plan to publish this year.
Jul. 15 2025
Source Page: Energy transition: UK - Netherlands memorandum of understandingJul. 15 2025
Source Page: Energy transition: UK - Ireland memorandum of understandingJul. 15 2025
Source Page: Hydrogen Economic Regulatory Framework: developing an effective framework for pipeline networksJul. 15 2025
Source Page: Hydrogen Economic Regulatory Framework: developing an effective framework for pipeline networksJul. 15 2025
Source Page: NESO Electricity Capacity Report 2025: findings of the Panel of Technical ExpertsJul. 15 2025
Source Page: NESO Electricity Capacity Report 2025: findings of the Panel of Technical ExpertsJul. 15 2025
Source Page: Capacity Market auction parameters: letter from DESNZ to NESO, July 2025