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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how the Government plans to support the uptake of renewable energy projects while also stabilising their costs on the grid; and if he will make a statement.

Renewable deployment has been a huge success in the UK and renewable generation has more than quadrupled since 2010, totalling 37% of electricity generation in 2019 (source: Digest of UK Energy Statistics 2020). Our continued support has seen the cost of renewable technologies fall – the cost of offshore wind, for example, has fallen by more than two thirds since 2015.

The Government has committed up to £557 million for future Contracts for Difference auctions, with the next allocation round due to take place later this year. We continue to evolve the Contracts for Difference scheme and have recently engaged with industry through a call for evidence, looking at how to balance enabling deployment with minimising system costs and, therefore, costs to consumers. This will be used to inform the design of future allocation rounds.

The costs incurred by renewable energy projects when connecting to the grid are a matter for Ofgem, as the independent regulator. As part of its Access and Forward-Looking Charges Review, Ofgem is considering some relevant aspects of grid charges, and it plans to consult on reform proposals in 2021.