Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps are being taken to assess the (a) short and (b) long-term effect on UK power generation of a growth in interconnection.

The Government is committed to making sure consumers have secure, affordable and clean energy now and in the future, and the role of interconnection alongside other technologies in meeting this ambition in the short and long term was set out in our Clean Growth Strategy.

Part of this strategy is ensuring that different technologies compete against each other. For example, the Capacity Market is delivering secure supplies of electricity to homes and businesses through technology neutral auctions that result in a mix of reliable capacity. As part of this, interconnectors help deliver energy security while reducing costs for consumers through increased competition. This year’s auction, in which around 2GW of new interconnector capacity cleared, saw the lowest price yet in the history of the capacity market. We assess the outcome of every Capacity Market auction to see what it means for Great Britain’s future energy security.