Government Doesn’t Have a Delivery Plan to Decarbonise the Power Sector: Spending Watchdog

A view of electricity pylons behind houses in Lydd, Kent, England, on Sept. 30, 2022. (Gareth Fuller/PA Media)

The government can’t decarbonise the UK power sector by 2035 because it doesn’t have a delivery plan, according to a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

A report from PAC published on Wednesday cast doubt on the government’s net zero plans to decarbonise the power sector by 2035, saying that it lacks “an overarching delivery plan” and has much to do “so that the lights stay on.”

PAC is a cross-party committee that examines the value for money of government projects, programs, and service delivery.

It also said that it was skeptical that plans “for expanding nuclear, solar, and wind power” are credible.

The government denied the claims.

12 Years Left

In 2019, the UK passed laws to require that all greenhouse gas emissions be reduced to net zero by 2050, though it plans to fully decarbonise its power system by 2035. This means areas such as transport and heating in buildings, will need to switch to using electricity instead of fossil fuels such as natural gas.

“The lack of an overarching delivery plan jeopardises [the] government’s achievement of its challenging ambition to decarbonise the power sector by 2035,” the committee wrote.

The committee said that “With only 12 years left to hit its ambition” the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has a lot to do if it is to “achieve its ambition,” adding that it needs to prove the costs to bill payers and taxpayers, “all while ensuring security of supply so that the lights stay on.”

It wrote that the government has set itself “highly challenging electricity generating capacity ambitions” for nuclear (24GW by 2050), solar (70GW by 2035), and offshore wind power (50GW by 2030) and that by comparison, the UK’s current operating capacity is “less than a quarter of each of these ambitions.”

Construction work on the circular reinforced concrete and steel home of a reactor at Nuclear Island 1, at Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant near Bridgwater in Somerset, England, on Sept. 23, 2021. (Ben Birchall/PA)

The report also said that decarbonising the power sector while servicing such an increase in electricity demand will “require substantial new zero and low-carbon electricity generating capacity.”

The committee added that the department has not yet set out how it expects such a policy will impact energy bill payers and taxpayers. It said that the department was unable to tell it when billpayers would see lower bills as a “result of investment in zero and low-carbon generating infrastructure.”

It also noted that in the last two decades, the government has only agreed to one nuclear project, at Hinkley Point, and warned that its ambitions rely on “using untested technology” such as small nuclear reactors, which are not used at scale anywhere in the world.

The government has estimated that £280 billion to £400 billion of public and private investment in new generating capacity will be needed by 2037.

When asked in March if the grid will be ready for net zero by 2030, Akshay Kaul, Ofgem’s executive director, Infrastructure and Security of Supply, said an “immense amount of investment in grid capacity” will be needed alone.

Kaul estimated that somewhere between £200 billion to £300 billion will be needed to reach a 2050 target.

Net Zero

There has been increasing scrutiny of Net Zero energy plans.

In May, a report from Citizens Advice found that British homeowners face financial obstacles to making net-zero upgrades to their homes, citing upfront costs and a lack of interest in borrowing as significant factors.

Citizens Advice warned that the average £15,000 cost of retrofitting homes to go green would be unmanageable for most homeowners.

Last month, UK solar farm developers warned they face a 15–20 year wait to connect to local electricity grids.

Blockages in the network mean that some solar farm developers will only be connected to local electricity grids by the 2030s, with the government recognising “the challenge of connection delays.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: “Far from the committee’s claims, our plans to power up Britain seizes opportunities from our transition to a decarbonised energy system. We have already attracted £120 [billion] of private investment in renewables since 2010 and expect to attract a further £100 billion of investment which will support up to 480,000 jobs by 2030.

“This will build on our world-leading record on delivering cheaper, cleaner, and more secure energy, having the world’s four largest operational wind farms off our shores and renewable sources now accounting for 40% of our electricity supply—up from just 2% in 2010.”