Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to store wind energy generated at night for use during days of high demand and low wind.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government’s approach to electricity storage is focussed on providing regulatory clarity and removing barriers to deployment, with actions laid out in the 2021 Smart Systems and Flexibility Plan. There is currently around 4GW of storage operational in GB. 3GW of this is pumped hydro storage and 1GW is newer lithium-ion battery storage.
The Government is reviewing responses to the Call for Evidence on large-scale, long-duration electricity storage published last year, alongside analysis we commissioned on the role of this type of storage in the electricity system. The Government is aiming to publish a response in due course. The Government also has plans to produce hydrogen from electrolysis as part of the Hydrogen Strategy, published in August 2021.
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the carbon dioxide saving in the event that all imported liquified natural gas was replaced by domestic gas piped to users.
Answered by Greg Hands
In 2021, the vast majority of the UK’s gas supply came from domestic production and reliable imports from Norway. The UK’s remaining supply came from a diverse range of international sources, including 15% from liquified natural gas (LNG).
The UK trades gas on a global marketplace. Intervening in the market to replace our LNG supplies with domestic gas might lead to the LNG being consumed elsewhere, generating no net carbon emissions savings.
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which new gas and oil fields in the North Sea have been licenced for production in the last six months.
Answered by Greg Hands
The most recent offshore licensing round was the 32nd UK Offshore Licensing Round. It was conducted by the Oil and Gas Authority (now the North Sea Transition Authority), and concluded on 30th September 2020, with 113 licences issued that year. The Government recently held a public consultation on the new Climate Compatibility Checkpoint, which will inform the next licensing round to be opened later this year.
Oil and gas fields, after being licensed, require a number of consents issued by regulators, such as Development and Production Consents granted by the North Sea Transition Authority, before they can begin production. A number of fields have received these consents in recent months. A full list of these consents can be found on the North Sea Transition Authority’s website here: https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/data-centre/data-downloads-and-publications/field-data/.
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which new oil and gas fields in the North Sea will be licenced to supplement domestic production in 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands
The most recent offshore licensing round was the 32nd UK Offshore Licensing Round. It was conducted by the Oil and Gas Authority (now the North Sea Transition Authority), and concluded on 30th September 2020, with 113 licences issued that year. The Government recently held a public consultation on the new Climate Compatibility Checkpoint, which will inform the next licensing round to be opened later this year.
Oil and gas fields, after being licensed, require a number of consents issued by regulators, such as Development and Production Consents granted by the North Sea Transition Authority, before they can begin production. A number of fields have received these consents in recent months. A full list of these consents can be found on the North Sea Transition Authority’s website here: https://www.nstauthority.co.uk/data-centre/data-downloads-and-publications/field-data/.
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy (a) not to permit licencing of onshore gas or oil development where the Planning Authority Council and/or landowner is against it and (b) offer a royalty to the landowner and Council where they are in favour of developing onshore production.
Answered by Greg Hands
Licensing of locations for onshore oil and gas exploration and production is a separate process from planning, typically encompassing large areas and occurring some years in advance of any actual developments that would require planning or landowner consent. It would not be practicable to base licensing decisions on future planning or landowner decisions.
In addition to requiring the relevant planning consents and landowner agreements, onshore oil and gas operations are subject to regulatory oversight including environmental permitting processes and scrutiny by the Health and Safety Executive.
The Government does not offer a royalty to landowners or local authorities in relation to onshore oil and gas exploration and production. Any agreements between developers and other parties would be a matter for the relevant parties.
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much electricity the UK (a) imported and (b) exported in 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands
Data on electricity trade up to the end of September 2021 is available in Energy Trends table 5.6, at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends. Full year figures will be published on 31 March 2022.
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) value was of exports of electricity and (b) cost was of imported electricity in 2021.
Answered by Greg Hands
Data on electricity trade up to the end of September 2021 is available in Energy Trends table 5.6, at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/electricity-section-5-energy-trends
Full year figures will be published on 31st March 2022.
The value of imports and exports of electricity to and from Great Britain can be calculated using interconnector flow data and electricity wholesale prices available from Elexon (https://www.bmreports.com/bmrs/?q=generation/avghalfhourIC/historic and https://www.bmreports.com/bmrs/?q=balancing/marketindex).
Asked by: Lord Redwood (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the potential loss of UK businesses in high energy using sectors as a result of the current high gas and carbon prices.
Answered by Greg Hands
I recognise this is a worrying time for businesses facing pressures due to the significant increases in global gas prices and its impact on electricity and carbon prices. I have met representatives of the UK’s high energy-using sectors to understand the impact on their business in the past months and extensive engagement with industry continues across government at both a ministerial and official level.
Many high energy-using businesses will have hedging strategies in place which help to shield them from exposure to the gas and electricity price rises, while some may be more reliant on current market prices.