Britain has made significant progress in cutting emissions from its electricity system, with wind turbines now producing roughly a quarter of electricity across the year.
However, production is still dominated by gas-fired power stations, which supply more than a third of annual electricity and are a large source of carbon dioxide emissions.
Ministers want to change this by boosting the amount of electricity generated from wind turbines and nuclear power stations instead.
Gas-fired power stations are likely to still play a role but would need to be fitted with new technology to capture their emissions, or burn hydrogen instead.
The overhaul will require billions of pounds of investment in new power stations, as well as new technology to help cope with greater levels of intermittent wind power on the system.
However, the MPs on the business committee pointed to policies deterring investors, such as windfall taxes, as well as delays for new projects to connect to the electricity grid and “a cumbersome planning regime”.
They warned that investors are being lured abroad, with the US offering billions of dollars of subsidies.
Grant Shapps, the Energy Secretary, defended the government’s plans, noting it had succeeded in almost completely stripping coal out of the electricity system.
Speaking as he visited Hinkley Point C, the nuclear power plant being built by France’s EDF in Somerset, he added: “I really started to appreciate the extent to which Britain has a total lead in this regard when I was at the G7 energy ministers [meeting] in Japan, where every country in the world is looking to the way that Britain has decarbonised.
