Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to assess the UK’s economically recoverable reserves of geothermal energy.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has supported research on geothermal in which some assessment of the UK potential is made. This includes funding a 2023 evidence-based assessment of the UK opportunity (https://www.bgs.ac.uk/news/new-report-assesses-deep-geothermal-energy-in-the-uk/); and commissioning additional research projects which will be published this summer. Together they will provide an update on geothermal energy generation cost estimates and make accessible currently disparate technical sources of geothermal data and information. The Mining Remediation Authority has also released opportunity maps for mine water heat (https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/0a4d95c1-5977-41a1-9c35-83017b871d22/mine-water-heat-opportunity-mapping-for-10-cities-in-england).
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what progress his Department has made in developing an online consumer advice service for retrofit.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises that access to trusted and impartial energy efficiency and clean heat advice is crucial. The Government runs several digital services on GOV.UK, supported by a national phoneline, aimed at households. We are now streamlining these services into a single user journey to make it even easier for households to access information, including funding options and trusted installers.
We encourage SMEs to visit the UK Business Climate Hub, which provides information and advice to SMEs on how to reduce energy use and carbon emissions.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of ensuring District Network Operators provide (a) free and (b) national access to data on (i) power cable routes, (ii) substation locations and (iii) spare capacity.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises the value of electricity network data to energy stakeholders, for example in helping to identify where best to connect projects. The energy regulator, Ofgem, has placed licence obligations on energy networks, including distribution network operators (DNOs), to make network data open by default, subject to certain considerations such as national security [1]. As part of this, DNOs publish free data on their networks, including network capacity ‘heat maps’ [2]. Under its review of the regulation of connections, Ofgem is also considering how best to ensure that network companies continuously improve data visualisation tools [3].
[2] https://www.energynetworks.org/industry/connecting-to-the-networks/connections-data
[3] https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2024-11/Connections_End_to_End_Review_consultation.pdf
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of Behind the Metre energy systems for energy-intensive industries.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There are increasingly greater opportunities for energy-intensive industries to make use of behind-the-meter energy systems. Demand flexibility, often in tandem with on-site generation and energy storage, enables industrial consumers to be financially rewarded for shifting their energy consumption to periods where energy is cheap, green and abundant, without compromising their commercial functions.
The Department is continuing to build its evidence base on how demand flexibility, on-site generation and energy storage can be deployed to support our mission to deliver Clean Power by 2030 and beyond. This includes improving visibility of the complex challenges and barriers faced by energy-intensive industries to participating in and benefiting from demand flexibility.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to help support the adoption of smart technologies in environmental (a) data collection and (b) monitoring involved in the (i) construction and (ii) development of offshore wind infrastructure.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Clean Power Action Plan (CPAP) committed to delivering clean power by 2030 whilst enabling nature recovery. A key action in the CPAP is to consider options for harmonising the offshore wind environmental data and modelling used for assessing environmental impacts of offshore wind projects. The use of new and innovative smart technologies will be key in collecting, monitoring, analysing and harmonising environmental data for offshore wind development and the Government has partnerships in place to facilitate development of these technologies.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of exempting Ground Source Heat Pumps from blowout prevention permitting requirements in Mining Remediation Authority Areas.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Mining Remediation Authority are responsible for safely managing the effects of past coal mining and will request a risk assessment as part of the permit to drill phase and the heat access agreement application for projects with groundworks in or near to coal (including mine workings) to help ensure works are undertaken safely. Guidance on managing the risk of hazardous gases when drilling or piling near coal can be found on GOV.UK.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is not currently exploring exempting Ground Source Heat Pumps from coal mining risk assessments.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to use the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund to accelerate the roll out of Ground Source Heat Pumps and Shared Ground loops.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund provides grant funding for social housing landlords to improve the energy performance of their properties.
Ground Source Heat Pumps and Shared Ground Loops are both eligible measures under the scheme. They are supported by both the ‘On-Gas-Grid Low Carbon Heating Incentive Offer’ and the ‘Off-Gas-Grid Low Carbon Heating Cost Cap Uplift’, which provide funding to support installations of low carbon heating technologies.
All measures installed under the scheme must be lodged onto the TrustMark Retrofit Portal, adhere to requirements within Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2035, and be installed by an appropriately certified PAS or Microgeneration Certification Scheme installer which is TrustMark registered.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of shared ground loops qualifying as an Innovative Measure under point 6 of eligibility requirements in the Energy Company Obligation 4 Scheme.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There is provision within the rules of ECO4 for shared ground loops to be delivered. Following the government consultation on mid-scheme changes to ECO4 and GBIS, legislation will be updated to specify that shared ground loop systems can be considered for Innovation Measures under ECO4. Amendments to legislation are expected to take effect later this year.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has considered implementing a licencing regime similar to the Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence to help clarify the (a) rights and (b) responsibilities of developers of geothermal energy.
Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is considering various indirect support measures for the development of geothermal energy including regulatory approaches. However, a specific licensing regime like the Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence has not been established in the UK, and at this time the Government is not currently considering implementing a licencing regime for geothermal energy.
Asked by: Perran Moon (Labour - Camborne and Redruth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions he has had with OFGEM on funding for shared ground loops under the Energy Company Obligation Scheme.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
There is provision within the rules of ECO4 for shared ground loops to be delivered. ECO4 is not funded by government. Rather, the government requires energy suppliers to deliver energy efficiency measures to eligible households. The energy suppliers fund those measures and recoup the costs from their customers’ energy bills.