Anthony Ainsworth, Chief Operating Officer, npower Business Solutions:
“By leading with the requirement to build new gas plants, DESNZ is arguing that back up power will be needed if the sun doesn’t shine or the wind doesn’t blow. While this is a sensible approach, it also needs to make sure the UK stays on track to decarbonise the power system by 2035 and hit net zero by 2050. At the moment, while the electricity wholesale market is not set up for large quantities of intermittent renewable generation, wind and solar power will be crucial to our net zero future, so change is clearly needed.
“The proposals for zonal pricing – where wholesale prices vary across the country based on local levels of energy supply and demand – are also interesting, as locational signals can be used to combat grid pressures and drive investment in new generation where it is most needed.
“However, there are some concerns around the speed at which this could be deployed, that it could impact investor confidence, and have a negative effect on market liquidity, which is already a major issue. Therefore, it is a delicate balancing act to ensure the needs of all stakeholders – from across the energy sector through to the end-user consumers – are met.”

Christophe Williams, chief executive, Naked Energy:
“It is a mistake to believe that relying on fossil fuels will lead to cheaper bills and energy security. The North Sea’s gas is running out, and when it does we will be at the mercy of foreign imports and the price volatility that comes with it. Considering that none of the CO2 from this gas will be captured, it’s a lose-lose for customers – their bills and our emissions will go up.
“The Climate Change Committee (CCC) has said that a ‘small amount’ of gas generation without carbon capture is compatible with a decarbonised power system, but that might only be two percent of the market (equivalent to only 15 hours of electricity a month).
“As renewable energy takes more of the market share, why would any private sector company invest in natural gas? Two percent of the market is far too small a portion to encourage investment, unless it comes with significant state-backed subsidies.
“Regardless of what happens in this year’s election, the answer is renewable energy. It makes far more fiscal sense to invest in modernising the power grid, expand wind farms on our shores and shred the red tape that is slowing down the deployment of renewable technologies. At the end of the day, this is the only way to boost our energy security and achieve our net zero targets – it’s really as simple as that.”

Mary Starks, VP of Regulation, Risk and Policy, OVO:
“The UK’s success and scale in renewable generation creates challenges with intermittent supply and it is right to address this, but gas should only be a stepping stone towards an energy system in which homes and businesses are fully powered by clean electricity.
“We’re pleased to see the consultation address innovative pricing, including price signals that vary by location and time of day. The UK faces a huge challenge upgrading the grid but it’s important that we enable our customers to use energy at cleaner and cheaper times of the day to bring system costs, energy bills and carbon emissions down.”

Juliet Phillips, UK energy programme lead, E3G:
“The UK remains on track to be a clean power leader by 2030, having overseen continued exponential growth in renewables. However, due to policy failures over the last parliament, the government has missed opportunities to build out the full offshore-wind pipeline, to make gains in energy efficiency, or address clunky network connection times – all factors that mean new gas plants have been announced today. These must come with strict conditions that new plants can be retrofitted with green hydrogen or CCS in the future, to maintain the UK’s clean power leadership. In addition, more political attention is needed to often-over looked power solutions – like long-term storage and demand side flexibility – in order to get the UK off volatile fossil gas imports for good.”

David Whitehouse, chief executive, Offshore Energies UK:
“It is right for the nation’s energy security to replace ageing infrastructure with new gas fired power stations. Today gas remains the single largest source for UK electricity generation and will remain a critical part of our energy mix in the decades to come.
“On our journey to net zero, we should be making the most of our own UK gas reserves rather than imports. Backing our homegrown energy sector grows our economy, boosts jobs across our world class supply chain and delivers reliable supplies of cleaner energy for the UK.”

Anders Lindberg, President, Wärtsilä Energy:
“In this decade we stand at a tipping point for our energy transition. Renewables capacity will increase by around 5,500GW by 2030 globally, so it is essential that we choose the right technologies to support intermittent wind and solar long term.
“Gas can play a crucial role, but we must install technologies that are flexible, dispatchable and future-proof, to balance renewables in a heartbeat. That means moving away from CCGTs and towards flexible engine power plants, which can in future run on sustainable fuels, to deliver reliable renewables, and energy security.”

Greg Jackson, CEO and Founder, Octopus Energy:
“Our ridiculously distorted energy market forces us to send electricity to France when we need it most and pay a premium to buy it back from Norway, all while paying Scottish wind farms to switch off.
“With locational pricing, customers will save hundreds of pounds a year on bills and parts of the UK will see the lowest electricity prices in Europe, attracting new industry and reducing the need for new pylons.
“It’s right that the government is progressing zonal pricing and the energy sector must now work together to get this up and running swiftly so we can attract new industries – from data centres to manufacturing – and customers can benefit from cheaper electricity fast.”

Andy Willis, Kona Energy:
“Arguments for/against gas plants aside, on current grid connection processes any new gas stations would be at the back of the queue and therefore would not be connecting until at least 2037.
…”Regardless of the rights and wrongs of building new fossil-fuel powered generation, this story further underlines the desperate need for fundamental reform of how the grid connection process operates. It is simply not fit for purpose, and without doubt the biggest obstacle on our path to Net Zero”.

Sarah Honan, Head of Policy, ADE:
“If we don’t place the demand-side at the heart of electricity market reform, we will need to build four new gas plants by 2030. The UK has one of the strongest offshore wind markets in the world. And yet, during the energy crisis, we were also one of the countries most exposed to high gas prices, leading to record levels of fuel poverty and debt in the energy system.
“Transforming our energy markets is not a story of balancing the books between fossil fuels, renewables and wires to transport it all – it is a story of how UK homes and businesses are empowered to participate in these markets on equal terms, with equal rewards.
“Subsidies are needed for new forms of generation, but not at the expense of low-carbon, flexible, cheap demand-side participation. Rather than continuing to focus on a handful of generation assets dotted around the country, we must turn our gaze to the millions of electric vehicles, heat pumps, and industrial processes that can balance the books, if only the markets allowed them to.”