MPs have warned that Net Zero, Britain will not be able to keep the lights on

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Britain has made significant progress in reducing emissions from its electricity system, with wind turbines now producing nearly a quarter of the electricity throughout the year.

However, production is still dominated by gas-fired power plants, which provide more than a third of annual electricity and are a significant source of carbon dioxide emissions.

Ministers want to change this by increasing the amount of electricity generated by wind turbines and nuclear power plants instead.

Gas-fired power plants will likely continue to play a role, but they will need to be equipped with new technology to capture their emissions, or burn hydrogen instead.

An overhaul would require billions of pounds of investment in new power plants, as well as new technology to help deal with the higher levels of intermittent wind power on the system.

However, MPs on the Business Committee cited policies that deter investors, such as unexpected taxes, as well as delays in new projects to connect to the power grid and a “cumbersome planning regime”.

They warned that investors are being lured abroad, with the US providing billions of dollars in support.

Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, defended the government’s plans, noting that it had succeeded in stripping coal almost entirely from the electricity system.

Speaking on a visit to Hinckley Point C, the nuclear power plant being built by France’s EDF in Somerset, he added: “I really began to appreciate how far Britain had come in this regard when I was in the G7 energy ministers. [meeting] In Japan, as every country in the world looks forward to the way Britain decarbonised.

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