Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many TWh of electricity have been imported into the UK by individual interconnectors since 2012.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government routinely publishes total import figures from interconnectors in the annual Digest of UK Energy Statistics (DUKES), and the quarterly National Statistics Energy Trends data.
Electricity imported to the UK from January 2012 to end March 2017 amounts to the following:
In addition, 1.26 TWh were imported into GB from Northern Ireland.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the T-4 capacity market auction for delivery in October 2021 will take place in February 2018; and and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
On 15th June National Grid released the capacity market timetable for 2017/18 and within it they have indicated that the T-4 auction will start on 6th February. Please find a link to the timetable document here: https://www.emrdeliverybody.com/Lists/Latest%20News/Attachments/109/Capacity%20Market%20Operational%20Plan%202017.pdf
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average cost is of transmission network costs for (a) interconnectors and (b) domestic generators of electricity.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
National Grid Electricity Transmission plc (NGET), in its role as system operator, have informed us that the average transmission network use of system charge for a GB generator is £5.77 / kW (2017/18 tariffs). The actual tariff is dependent on the location of the generator, the historic load factor of the generator, the type of generator and details of its specific connection.
As part of the overall transmission infrastructure facilitating the wider market, interconnectors do not pay use of system charges for the transmission network. As producers and consumers are liable for charges in their own countries, additional charges for using the interconnector, to allow imports and exports, would amount to double charging and may hinder the ability of GB producers to export electricity to other countries.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many megawatts of new interconnector capacity are proposed by (a) 2020 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The UK has a pipeline of interconnector projects that are expected to play a role in providing reliable, affordable, and clean energy.
Based on current project timelines and assuming all projects are able to complete, 3GW (3000MW) of new interconnector capacity are expected to be operational by 2020. A further 1.4GW is also currently under construction for delivery after 2020. There are a further 9.5GW of projects which have sought regulatory approval.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of electricity will be supplied by interconnectors in (a) 2020 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The proportion of electricity that will be supplied by electricity imports by 2020 is expected to be 7.6%.
The power supply sector is projected using the reference case scenario from the Energy and Emissions Projections 2016 (published March 2017), which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/updated-energy-and-emissions-projections-2016
Up to 2020, the reference scenario reflects current power sector policies. Beyond 2020, the reference scenario includes assumptions that go beyond current Government policy. The results do not indicate a preferred outcome and should be treated as illustrative.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average price of electricity supplied by (a) interconnectors and (b) other electricity generation was in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
The Government does not hold prices on electricity imports over interconnectors. This is commercial information held by market participants.
As regards the average price for other electricity generation, the average UK power price in the day ahead market, the most commonly cited trading time frame, was £45.01 over the past 12 months. This is an incomplete picture as power is sold across a number of time frames, from year ahead through to intraday trading, and it would be inappropriate to extract wholesale prices from one time frame and use it to infer prices across other time frames. The Government does not have visibility of longer term time frames, which is commercial information held by market participants.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the financial cost will be to other electricity generators of the proposed supplementary balancing reserve and Black Start payments made to Fiddlers Ferry and Drax power plants.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Details of charges and how they are applied are available through National Grid’s website: http://www2.nationalgrid.com/bsuos/. However National Grid does not provide a public breakdown of the costs of individual Black Start and SBR contracts.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to remove any potential conflict of interest between National Grid and its support for new interconnectors to import electricity.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There is a case for greater independence for the system operator to promote more competition and flexibility in our electricity system. We are working alongside National Grid and Ofgem to this end, so that the electricity system continues to be operated in the best interest of consumers.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to create a new independent system operator to remove any potential conflict of interest between National Grid and its electricity balancing and management responsibilities.
Answered by Jesse Norman
There is a case for greater independence for the system operator to promote more competition and flexibility in our electricity system. We are working alongside National Grid and Ofgem to this end, so that the electricity system continues to be operated in the best interest of consumers.
Asked by: William Cash (Conservative - Stone)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate any advantage which fossil fuel generated electricity imported via interconnector has over domestic electricity generation on which carbon price floor rates are applied.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Whatever the source, and wherever it is from, we import electricity when the cost is lower than here in the UK, driving down consumer bills. Ofgem’s analysis of proposed interconnector projects shows that the carbon price floor is not the determinate of whether the projects are in the interests of UK consumers.