DECC asks for industry input on energy regulation
19 Jan 2016
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is calling for industry views on how to ensure regulatory activities in the energy sector align with innovation.
The consultation paper is its first step towards developing an Innovation Plan for the department, and DECC has asked energy industry stakeholders to offer their views by February 11.
It said the Innovation Plan would seek to identify regulatory activities that support rather than thwart emerging technologies and new business models.
“Innovation in the energy sector can deliver lower costs, greater resilience and reliability of energy supply, as well as enable cost effective decarbonisation,” the consultation paper says.
“To ensure the UK benefits from innovation and competition in energy, the right conditions need to be in place... regulations therefore need to be flexible enough to enable innovation, while continuing to deliver their intended objectives.”
Since announcing plans last year to close all unabated coal-fired power stations by 2025, the government has shifted its focus to nuclear and gas-fired plants for the UK’s future energy supply.
It says this shift will transform the energy sector into an area of “active innovation,” driven by the underlying economics of producing and using energy more efficiently, and the long-term objective of decarbonising energy. Now it is looking to energy companies to suggest ways of stimulating innovation in these industries, as well as other areas it has targeted.
It says core areas to be addressed within the Innovation Plan include:
- Upstream oil and gas development in the UK Continental Shelf
- Creating smarter energy systems, storage and networks
- Nuclear research and development
- Developing domestic shale gas production
- Creating heat networks for decarbonising heat in urban areas
- Energy saving measures to target faulty or ineffective installations
DECC’s consultation exercise will incorporate the activities of the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) while other industry regulators will conduct parallel stakeholder exercises, as detailed in the consultation paper.
It said a final Innovation Plan for the department would be published in spring.
