Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many kWh of gas imported from Russia is used by the average UK household per year.
Answered by Greg Hands
According to the latest data available, in 2020 the average household used around 12,200kWh of gas. In that year less than 3% of UK gas supplies came from Russia via LNG. Once natural gas enters the UK transmission system, it is impossible to identify the distribution of specific molecules.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
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 level of UK gas imports from Russia over the last five years by (a) percentage and (b) GWh.
Answered by Greg Hands
The UK only receives direct gas in the form of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) from Russia, since there are no gas pipelines directly linking the UK with Russia. Over the last five years (2017-2021), UK gas imports from Russia accounted for, on average, 2% of the UK’s gas supply portfolio.
On average, over the last five years (2017-2021), the UK received 21506 GWh of LNG from Russia.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessments he has made of the effects of a reduced capacity factor on the levelised cost of gas-fired power stations.
Answered by Greg Hands
Whilst unabated gas generation currently plays a key role in keeping Great Britain’s electricity system stable and secure (with around 34 GW of capacity currently installed on the system), the development of clean flexible technologies means it will be used less frequently in the future. The Government is actively developing policies to bring forward low carbon flexible technologies and to ensure that unabated gas capacity has clear decarbonisation pathways.
Achieving the UK's ambitious 2050 net zero target will require significant increases in renewable electricity generation and Great Britain’s exposure to volatile global gas prices underscores the importance of the Government’s plan to build a robust domestic renewable and resilient energy sector to further reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effects of increasing wind penetration in the electricity system on the capacity factor of gas-fired power stations.
Answered by Greg Hands
Whilst unabated gas generation currently plays a key role in keeping Great Britain’s electricity system stable and secure (with around 34 GW of capacity currently installed on the system), the development of clean flexible technologies means it will be used less frequently in the future. The Government is actively developing policies to bring forward low carbon flexible technologies and to ensure that unabated gas capacity has clear decarbonisation pathways.
Achieving the UK's ambitious 2050 net zero target will require significant increases in renewable electricity generation and Great Britain’s exposure to volatile global gas prices underscores the importance of the Government’s plan to build a robust domestic renewable and resilient energy sector to further reduce our reliance on fossil fuels.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the report titled Auctions for allocation of offshore wind contracts for difference in the UK, published in February 2019, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding by Oxford Institute for Energy Studies that auction strike prices are unlikely to be indicative of underlying costs for renewable generators.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme operates as a competitive auction where the strike price successful participants receive is based on the clearing price, which is a product of bid prices. It is for developers to consider a bid price that is sustainable for their project, based on their own, forward-looking assessment of their likely project costs and revenues, and projects are only paid for the electricity they generate.
The Department publishes its own view of future electricity generation costs by technology – the latest version is from 2020, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-electricity-generation-costs-2020.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has he made of the relative seismicity of geothermal energy extraction and shale gas extraction through fracking.
Answered by Greg Hands
A 2012 Written Ministerial Statement outlined new requirements on fracking to mitigate the risks of seismic activity – the ‘traffic light system’. This statement acknowledged that the trigger levels set in this system were cautious and exceeded the control protocols in place for other industries such as geothermal energy, construction and quarrying. However, it was made clear that the reasons for this approach were specific and appropriate to the context of the nascent shale gas sector. It noted that trigger levels could be adjusted upwards as experience of fracking operations developed.
Following a seismic event of magnitude 2.9 at Preston New Road in 2019, the Government took a presumption against issuing further hydraulic fracturing consents. Seismic events induced by fracking had proved to be unpredictable in size, timing and frequency.
It remains the Government’s policy to be guided by the evidence and to minimise disturbance to those living and working nearby, and to prevent the risk of damage.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effects of increasing wind penetration in the electricity system on market prices.
Answered by Greg Hands
Achieving the UK's ambitious 2050 net zero target will require significant increases in renewable electricity generation. As more renewables, including wind, are added to the system, wholesale prices will be less affected by fluctuations in volatile global gas prices.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has estimated the effect on consumer bills of the use of audited financial accounts and financial close announcements as a guide to underlying costs rather than strike prices.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme operates as a competitive auction where the strike price successful participants receive is based on the clearing price, which is a product of bid prices. It is for developers to consider a bid price that is sustainable for their project, based on their own, forward-looking assessment of their likely project costs and revenues. Once projects begin generating, it is the difference between this strike price and the wholesale electricity price that drives any impact on consumer bills, and projects are only paid for the electricity they generate. This means that an assessment along the lines of what The Honourable Member for Wycombe proposes would not reflect assumptions consistent with actual costs likely to be paid by consumers.
The Department publishes its own view of future electricity generation costs by technology – the latest version is from 2020, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-electricity-generation-costs-2020.
Asked by: Steve Baker (Conservative - Wycombe)
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 levelised cost of offshore wind farms commissioning in 2022.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department’s Electricity Generation Cost Report[1] published on gov.uk sets out levelised cost of electricity estimates for a range of technologies, including offshore wind.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-electricity-generation-costs-2020