Powering Up Britain: Energy Security Plan

30 March 2023

Status

The Government has published a policy paper on “Powering Up Britain” as part of this paper an Energy Security Plan is outlined. This plan along with the other document that are part of the policy paper can be found here. The report sets out the steps the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is taking to ensure the UK is more energy independent, secure, and resilient.

The plan will build on our ambitions set out in the British Energy Security Strategy and the Net Zero Strategy to enable the transformation of the energy system, so it is secure, low-cost and low-carbon. DZNEZ are aiming for a doubling of Britain’s electricity generation capacity by the late 2030s, in line with the aim to fully decarbonise the power sector by 2035, subject to security of supply, whilst recognising the role that UK’s oil and gas sector will play in that transition.

 

Impact

key commitments of relevance for BEAMA members:

  • Deliver vital energy efficiency upgrades through the Great British Insulation Scheme and will extend the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to 2028 to further encourage the adoption of clean heat technologies.
  • Announce successful applicants of the first competition window for Strands 1 and 2 of the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund (development and capital co-funding) and intend to launch a second competition window in the spring, to be run by UKRI.
  • Publish action plans this year on reducing the development time for transmission network projects and on accelerating electricity network connections.
  • Publish for consultation revised energy National Policy Statements which underline the national need for new energy infrastructure with the intention of expediting planning processes.
  • The Government accepts the Independent Review of Net Zero recommendation that Government should commit to outlining a clear approach to gas vs. electricity ‘rebalancing’ by the end of 2023/4 and should make significant progress affecting relative prices by the end of 2024.

 

Items of interest by topic area:

Energy efficiency

  • A new ECO+ scheme, the ‘Great British Insulation Scheme’, is being launched. Certain households in council tax bands A-D will qualify. It forms part of a £1bn energy efficiency programme running from Spring until March 2026 and contributes towards the Government’s target to reduce energy demand by 15% by 2030. The Government plans to lay legislation by the summer.
  • Energy efficiency upgrades will be delivered through the Great British Insulation Scheme.
  • The Government will publish a full technical consultation for Future Homes Standard and Future Building Standard in 2023.

Decarbonising/Electrification of Heat

  • A new £30m Heat Pump Investment Accelerator will be launched to incentivise the UK manufacture of heat pumps to improve supply of low-carbon heat.
  • The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is being extended until 2028, offering a grant of up to £5,000 to anyone buying a heat pump.
  • Goal of 600,000 heat pumps installed per year by 2028.
  • The Government will set out plans during 2023/24 to rebalance gas and electricity costs in household bills with the aim of making electricity bills cheaper and speeding up electrification for households and businesses.
  • The Green Home Finance Accelerator will be being pilots in early 2024 empowering consumers to decarbonise their homes.
  • Wave 2 of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund from April 2023 - £778 million of grant funding, with around £1.1 billion of further co- funding, to housing associations and local authorities.
  • Phase 2 of the Home Upgrade Grant from April 2023, having allocated up to £630 million to Local Authorities to upgrade around 25,000 homes.

Networks/infrastructure

  • An investigation by the Electricity Networks Commissioner (Nick Winser) will examine what else can be done to speed up network infrastructure, with recommendations delivered to Ministers by June.

Skills

  • The Government is planning to allocate £15m for the 2023/24 Home Decarbonisation Skills Competition.
  • A new £5m Heat Training Grant for heat pump and heat network skills has recently been confirmed.

Hydrogen:

  • hydrogen heating village trial will be announced later in 2023 and the neighbourhood trial will go live in 2024, in order to help build our evidence base for making strategic decisions on hydrogen for heating by 2026.

 

Actions

A deeper analysis of the and Energy Security Plan will be completed by BEAMA in the coming weeks where possible actions will be identified.

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