Nigel Adams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2014-03-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether his Department has plans to extend the life of generating capacity currently scheduled to be closed in the event that delays in new investment arise as a result of uncertainty about the outcome of the competition investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Michael Fallon

Government’s plans for the Capacity Market and interim arrangements being put in place by National Grid ahead of this will offer an opportunity to extend the life of existing capacity where it is economically efficient to do so. Subject to state aid approval the first Capacity Market auction will take place in late 2014 for delivery in winter 2018. This will ensure sufficient capacity into the coming decades by offering regular payments to existing and new generation capacity that is successful at auction.

In advance of this National Grid has developed Supplemental Balancing Reserve, a new balancing service through which it will be able to procure further capacity should it be needed, including capacity that is or otherwise intends to mothball or close. National Grid will only seek to competitively procure the amount of capacity that its forecast determines necessary and expect to run an initial tender process this spring for capacity for the winter of 2014/15 and 2015/16, with the possibility of extending this period if necessary.