THE ENERGY EVENT
Power generation: is the UK doing enough to secure supply?
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Jonathan Leary looks at the UK’s energy generation infrastructure and wonders what can be done in order to reassure investors and help to secure future energy supplies
he political unrest in Ukraine, and the prospect of a repeat of the 2009 crisis which saw an interruption of supply to southern Europe, has underscored the vulnerability of economies that rely on imported energy. Despite increased deployment of renewable energy generation, the EU remains dependent on Energy consumed imports for 53% by EU member of the energy Inspectorate that it consumes. and decided states dependent The UK has by the on imports historically relied secretary of state. upon a plentiful Guiding the supply of energy from decision making process domestic sources. However, are a series of technologyas production from the UK specific National Policy continental shelf has declined Statements (NPS) together over the past decade, the UK with an overarching energy has moved from a net exporter NPS, which confirms the of gas to a net importer. While government’s stance that not as reliant on Ukrainian there is a pressing need for corridors as other member new energy infrastructure. states, a disruption to EU To succeed in obtaining supply will have an inevitable development consent for a knock-on effect on the project, applicants should energy markets that the UK ensure that their proposal is increasingly dependent. demonstrates compliance Streamlining the planning with policies set out in the process to ease the deployment National Policy Statements. of much-needed new energy The NSIP regime achieves infrastructure is high on the its six-month time limit on the political agenda. Central to examination of applications by this aim is the Planning Act requiring applicants to consult 2008, which provides for early, meaningfully and widely a frontloaded, streamlined on their proposals before “one stop shop” for planning, submitting an application. compulsory acquisition and A major criticism of the other consents for Nationally regime is its inflexibility – for Significant Infrastructure example, where a developer, Projects (NSIPs). Applications having obtained development are examined by the Planning consent starts construction of
Generation game: greater certainty on the flexibility of development consent is needed
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new energy infrastructure only to discover that design changes are needed to accommodate the project (a higher chimney stack or a different pipe-line route etc). While an application can be prepared with a degree of flexibility built-in, it is difficult to cater for all contingencies.
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The government has also stated it will publish guidance to assist applicants in understanding what changes are likely to be considered “material” or “non-material”. While both can be accommodated, the Bill currently being debated makes it clear that this is not a panacea. The secretary of state would retain a discretion to refuse an application for a modification of a DCO where he considers it should properly be the subject of a full DCO application. So will these changes secure our energy supply in these uncertain times? While clearly of modest scale, it is encouraging that the government continues to look to improve the practicalities of the NSIP planning regime. Greater
Streamlining the planning process to ease the deployment of much-needed new energy infrastructure is high on the political agenda The prospect of repeating the full and wide-ranging pre-application consultation and examination process is unappealing to developers and may be received with, at most, lukewarm disinterest by communities that have already been consulted on the proposal. The Infrastructure Bill proposes to give the secretary of state a discretion to modify consultation requirements to allow for more proportionate consultation for applications to modify a development consent.
certainty on the flexibility of development consent can only serve to reassure those investing in the UK’s energy infrastructure. we&e Jonathan Leary is an assistant solicitor for Zyda Law, a boutique planning and environmental law firm. He will be taking part in a panel discussion at The Energy Event on 16 September, discussing the practicalities of delivering the next generation of UK energy infrastructure zydalaw.com
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