Mottram: ‘Environmental responsibility is in our DNA’

Decarbonisation is under the spotlight more than ever before with the water sector's net zero 2030 deadline fast approaching. The industry target was ambitious enough but one company has broken ranks and says it wants to be there by 2027. As part of Utility Week’s Countdown to COP coverage, Ruth Williams speaks to Northumbrian Water’s chief executive Heidi Mottram about why the company set itself the earlier goal.

“We genuinely believe that the trajectory we are following will land us at 2027. It’s utterly in our DNA to be environmentally responsible, that’s how we go about things,” Mottram, who is also co-champion of the water sector net zero commitment, says.

She explains Northumbrian’s journey began more than a decade ago when denial around climate change was still a mainstream position. “Northumbrian was very much in the vanguard and started to think about our carbon reduction journey then.”

Northumbrian’s net-zero goal, like the wider industry’s, focuses on the company’s operational emissions, including the hitherto unmeasured biological process emissions from wastewater treatment. The company cut its emissions from 303,000 tonnes in 2008 to 56,000 tonnes last year. By 2027 it aims to drive these down further and balance the process emissions by increasing the amount of renewable energy it generates and, as a last resort, to offset no more than 10 per cent of the present total.

Citing the company’s journey to improve anaerobic digestion, the chief executive is confident 2027 is possible.

The first at-scale anaerobic digestion plant opened at Bran Sands in 2009 and Northumbrian remains the only company to convert all its sludge into renewable energy.

Northumbrian began looking seriously at the idea of creating energy from waste and re-thought its sludge strategy a decade ago. To maximise benefits it established two large plants for processing sludge and switched to de-watering sludge at smaller satellite plats before transportation to the main hubs.

“We are still the only company that has 100 per cent of sewage sludge going through anaerobic digestion and by far the most efficient in this space, which was a strategic approach,” Mottram says.

The earlier work on anaerobic digestion has provided the confidence that other processes can be greened in an affordable manner.

Anthony Browne, energy and decarbonisation manager, explains that since its advances to anaerobic digestion activity, the company has added renewable energy developments both in the north east and down in Suffolk.

“We moved to fully green electricity at all sites in 2018 through a supply agreement with Orsted and extended that with direct power purchase agreements, which we see as gold standard,” Browne says. “Some people may challenge the market basing of green electricity but we’re taking the power as it comes from the windfarm and the renewable energy certificates that come through with that. ”

Areas of focus

This year, the company is focused on decarbonising its vehicle fleet. It has a number of specialist and heavy vehicles with long ranges and heavy-duty cycles that are unlikely to come to market as low-carbon alternatives in the near future. A significant data project is underway to decarbonise the fleet in an affordable way but the challenge remains tough.

“Process emissions is the toughest nut to crack,” Browne says. Although these will be included in the 2027 target, Browne explains they will be credibly offset by other renewable activities. He adds that although the company does not anticipate making significant reductions to processes this decade, it will account for them in the net zero value .

They will be balanced by other activities undertaken such as the ramping up of renewably generated energy. “We’re not turning a blind eye to it but we’re not anticipating significant reductions by 2027,” he says.

Severn Trent is leading a bid in Ofwat’s innovation fund for monitoring equipment to be deployed for reporting and understanding what mitigation strategies can be taken. Northumbrian and others in the sector will be involved with this project as it works towards the shared net zero goal.

“Monitoring is a challenge we have to understand now in order to take the mitigating action in 2027 and 2030,” Browne adds.

Browne is hopeful to avoid the “last resort” of offsetting by increasing its production of renewable energy across the region to balance unavoidable – especially process – emissions. “From the 56 kilotons we have today I hope we are talking less than 10 per cent of offsetting, ideally to avoid them altogether.”

Although there is considerable work to be done, Mottram remains optimistic because of the input from other sectors and praises the collaboration between water companies, the supply chain and innovators.

“Everybody is taking up this challenge – it’s not just water companies trying to do this. The supply chain realise for their own markets its more attractive to have other products or ways of doing things – not just the water industry driving this.”

She says the early signals from Ofwat’s consultation for PR24 and the draft strategic policy statement from Defra showed the need for the industry to invest but says it would need to be done with more balance. The company was one of four to reject its final determination from Ofwat and sought a re-determination from the Competition and Markets Authority on the ground that the balance in the round between investing and affordability was not right.

At PR24 Mottram believes there would need to be more balance.

“That’s our view and our customers are very supportive that things should be done for the long term. Part of our frustration was that areas with very strong customer support were not being able to be brought through,” she says.

Northumbrian is one of six companies with a bespoke outcome delivery incentive (ODI) related to greenhouse gases. Mottram explains the company put itself forward for such a target because they believe it is the right thing to do and has set a template for upcoming business plans.

“Government is signalling it wants that kind of thing so I would be amazed if Ofwat doesn’t have something in its common ODIs around that, which has got to be a good thing,” Mottram adds.