Posted on: 29/10/2024
This week's energy news headlines: The new system operator is tasked with developing a blueprint to plan the GB energy system; The Government is advised to commit to an 81% emissions cut by 2035; Small-scale generators have seen a big increase in payouts under a power export scheme. Our industry round-up includes the latest updates from Government departments and energy regulators.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has published proposed amendments to Contracts for Difference for Allocation Round 7 and future rounds following a consultation.
Scottish Renewables has published its response to Ofgem’s view on developing a temporary cap and floor on wider TNUoS charges for generation.
Ofgem has issued a call for input on the development of an economic evaluation strategy for future policy interventions. The response deadline is 22 November.
Ofgem has published the latest annual report for the Smart Export Guarantee scheme.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has opened a consultation into proposed changes to the Capacity Market. It closes on 10 December.
Work is underway to create a new high-level blueprint to plan the future of the energy system across Great Britain.
The Strategic Spatial Energy Plan aims to accelerate the energy transition and provide greater clarity to industry, investors, communities and consumers.
The new system operator, NESO, has been commissioned by the UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments to develop the plan which will assess optimal locations, quantities and types of energy infrastructure required to meet future energy demand.
Other bodies including The Crown Estate and Crown Estate Scotland will also be involved.
Kayte O’Neill, Chief Operating Officer, NESO said: “By setting out pathway options, engaging across government, the regulator, wider industry, interested parties and with communities as well as exploring the needs at a more zonal and regional level we can then identify where and what type of electricity and storage technologies we need to meet our future demand and decarbonisation ambitions.”
The UK Government’s climate advisor has recommended it commits to an 81% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.
The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said it believes the reduction from 1990 levels advised for the UK’s 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) “sets the right level of ambition” Professor Piers Forster, interim chair of the CCC, said the technologies needed to achieve such a reduction are available today at a “competitive price”.
“Investment in low carbon technologies – electric vehicles, heat pumps, and renewables – needs to come now for this target to be achievable. Businesses will start to invest when they have confidence in what the Government’s long term policy plans are,” he said.
“We need to see the Government’s commitment to climate reflected in the upcoming Budget.”
Payments to small-scale low carbon generators under a government-backed scheme have soared by more than 300%.
Ofgem said the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) scheme, designed to build a competitive market where suppliers offer innovative tariffs and fair prices, had seen payments of more than £30m made in 2023/24.
During the fourth year of the scheme, there were a total of 42 tariffs offered from 13 licensees providing or offering support to generators, up from the 39 tariffs the previous year.
Ofgem said continued growth in the range of tariffs on offer “reflects the development of a competitive and robust market which rewards consumers for active, flexible and smart usage of small-scale generation and storage technologies”.
Global greenhouse gas emissions are at an all-time high and countries must take action now to prevent catastrophic temperature spikes, according to a stark UN report.
The organisation’s latest Emissions Gap Report warned the 1.5°C goal will be out of reach within a few years unless nations collectively commit to cut 42% of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and 57% by 2035.
Without dramatic cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, the world could face an inevitable and catastrophic 3.1°C temperature rise.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said: “We are teetering on a planetary tight rope. Either leaders bridge the emissions gap or we plunge headlong into climate disaster, with the poorest and most vulnerable suffering the most.”
Six towns and cities across England have been selected to develop the country’s first heat network zones.
The ground-breaking schemes in Leeds, Plymouth, Bristol, Stockport, Sheffield, and two in London will receive a share of £5.8m of government funding to develop the zones to provide low-cost heating.
Heat network zones use data to identify the best spots and help to plan and build the technology at scale. They require suitable buildings, such as hotels and large offices, to connect when it is cost-effective for them to do so.
Minister for Energy Consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “Developing heat networks across the country has the potential to create tens of thousands of jobs through delivering a low-carbon heating transformation.
“Types of buildings that could connect to a network include those that are already communally heated, and large non-domestic buildings over a certain size, such as hospitals, universities, hotels, supermarkets, and office blocks.”
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