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 encourage greater diversify in energy production in the UK.

The Capacity Market is at the heart of the Government’s plans for a reliable, flexible electricity system. It will secure the capacity required to meet peak demand in a range of scenarios through auctions held four- and one-year ahead of delivery.

The design of the Capacity Market drives fierce competition. Existing and new resources, of all technology types which are not in receipt of another subsidy, compete together. A mix of new-build projects came through in the last main capacity auction in December 2016, with significant innovation such as demand-side response and battery storage winning agreements alongside more traditional gas generation projects.

Other measures being taken to broaden the UK’s electricity generation base are the deployment of new nuclear generation (starting with Hinkley Point C).

In September, we announced the results of the second Contracts for Difference auction round which secured an additional 3.2 Giga Watts of new offshore wind capacity to be built in the early 2020’s.

Building on this, we announced our Clean Growth Strategy in October, where we committed a further £557 million for future Contracts for Difference allocation rounds with the next auction planned for Spring 2019.