ICE submission to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero consultation on revised energy National Policy Statements

The revised energy NPS is an important document, and the ICE encourages the UK government to keep National Policy Statements up to date.

Going much beyond five years risks delays to projects and negatively affects the ability to ensure the public gets the infrastructure they need.

The ICE’s submission also focused on:

• In order to differentiate critical national priority (CNP) infrastructure from initiatives such as the National Policy Statement (NPS), British Energy Security Strategy (BESS), national significant infrastructure projects (NSIPs), Centralised Strategy Network Plan (CSNP), Offshore Wind Environmental Improvement Package (OWEIP) and Offshore Transmission Network Review (ONTR), it will be important for the government to review the potential overlap between these areas.

• It’s important that new guidance for offshore wind supports its deployment without impacting other zero or low carbon energy generating assets.

  Rather than limit floating wind to 5GW, it’s also important to allow flexibility to be able to extend ambition even further and accelerate the deployment of offshore wind.

• The overarching energy NPS is an example of an NPS that provides both a strategic overview as well as specific recommendations on energy infrastructure development.

  A single NPS for infrastructure, as highlighted by the ICE in its previous response to the 2021 energy NPS consultation, could achieve the same effect.

  Such an approach would ensure consistency across sectors on issues such as noise limits, where there are currently varying and complex regulations as indicated in document EN-3.

• NPSs should accurately reflect the challenges and prospective mitigations resulting from climate change and set out requirements for necessary action. This would also support meeting the UN SDGs regarding resilience.