The government is “strengthening” its planning guidance to give more weight to energy security and net zero issues when vetting applications for renewables projects, Greg Hands has revealed.
Giving evidence to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee on Tuesday (24 May), the energy minister said site-specific considerations would be given less sway as a result of the government’s ongoing review of the National Policy Statement for renewables.
He said: “We are currently strengthening the renewable National Policy Statement to reflect the importance of both net zero and energy security. The idea is to make environmental considerations on a more strategic level.”
Hands rejected the suggestion that the government has “de-emphasised” onshore wind, following its decision not to set a target for the technology in its recent energy security strategy.
He said: “We have fantastic onshore wind assets. Certainly there has not been any de-emphasis or neglect of onshore: we want more onshore wind in England where there is local community support.”
Hands also clarified the government’s commitment in the security strategy to deliver one nuclear power station per annum, subsequently repeated several times by prime minister Boris Johnson.
This commitment was to reach one final investment decision per year, he said: “The idea is to make a decision on eight further reactors before the end of this decade.”
Some of these reactors may be small modular reactors (SMRs), the minister said: “It is unlikely all eight of those reactors are going to be gigawatt-style reactors in the mould of Hinkley Point C. There will be SMRs.”
He said ministers at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are engaged in discussions with their Treasury counterparts on whether to introduce a windfall tax on energy companies but added that the latter would have the “final call” on taxation.
And Hands emphasised the government’s commitment to low-carbon power.
“The last thing we want to do is import more volatile and expensive hydrocarbons because the answer is more renewables.”
He also told the committee that the government has “no plans to abandon the gas network” which the UK will “need for some time”.