Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions officials in his Department have had with the European Commission on the principle of electrical interconnectors being allowed to bid in the new capacity market auctions.

The Government made clear in December 2011 when it announced its decision to develop a Capacity Market that interconnected capacity should in principle be able to participate within the mechanism. We have worked since that time to achieve this aim, including discussing this issue with the European Commission on a number of occasions.

On 25^th September, we published, for consultation, our proposals for enabling interconnectors to participate in the Capacity Market. As part of this process, we will continue to discuss this issue with the Commission before introducing legislation in early 2015.