Plans for a green industrial revolution must be backed up by substance and investment

The findings of a study our business conducted last year, in collaboration with the Cheshire Energy Hub in the area around Ellesmere Port, demonstrated how a local, smart energy system could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region by a significant 34 per cent.

Hydrogen, it showed, played a critical role in enabling this whole system approach, with different energy sources addressing the varying needs of industry, commerce and households. If replicated nationally, this approach would help us make significant strides towards the government’s emissions target.

I was therefore buoyed by the prime minister’s commitment to enabling a whole system approach to energy and invest up to £500 million in hydrogen when he set out his 10-plan for a “green industrial revolution” this week.

Indeed, there is much to praise in the ambition and intent of the plan. But its delivery over the next several years will require a wholesale shift in how the energy system is managed and achieving net zero by 2050 will be fraught with challenges.

So, what does the government need to focus on now?

Top of the plan is the already-announced commitment to produce enough offshore wind to power every home, quadrupling how much we produce to 40GW by 2030. This is laudable, and good news for jobs in construction and engineering.

To unlock the offshore wind bonanza, however, will require ongoing investment in the UK’s national grid transmission system and an offshore transmission system to minimise the impact on the coastal communities that are so often impacted.

We need a capable and reliable transmission and distribution system to bring the power from the point of generation to where people live. The government and Ofgem need to recognise the value in investing in this infrastructure, encouraging investors and enabling them to make a fair return.

To enable the rapid increase in the number of electric vehicles needed to meet the government’s target of banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 will require not only an extensive and reliable public charging network, but also the ability for people to recharge their cars near where they live in a safe and secure way.

Whether it is charging on your drive or just close to your home, the local electrical distribution system will be stretched. Few streets can currently cope with multiple electric vehicles for every household.

The problem must be solved dynamically through solutions such as the installation of smart meters, by putting customers in greater control of their energy usage, and by large-scale energy users coming together to solve challenges at a local level.

In addition, the introduction of heat pumps will place further strain on the current “last-mile” network. The DNOs need to be properly funded to address this and make their networks secure and reliable, incorporating technology to manage loads and communication systems for them and their customers to be active participants in the energy transition.

Delivering the plan will require a whole system approach to energy transition, and it is good to see the government embracing this thinking. But using hydrogen for major industrial sites and heavy transport and home heating needs careful consideration. There will, for example, be many technical roles which will require investment in retraining and upskilling; from heating technicians learning how to install hydrogen boilers and heat pumps, to system planners.

Fundamentally, the “green industrial revolution” must be underpinned by a substantial shift in the way the energy system is managed and regulated.

The Future Power Systems Architecture (FPSA) programme has set out what these changes could look like. The aim of the programme, a collaboration between the IET and the Energy Systems Catapult, is to identify the new capabilities required by the electricity system in 2030. Taking a whole system approach, the programme has considered the traditional power system together with the installations, appliances and devices on the customers’ side of the meter. It looks at how this interacts with other energy vectors such as transport and heat and shows that transforming the UK energy system to become clean, secure and affordable requires integrating and optimising solutions and innovations in a rapidly changing sector.

There is a responsibility on all of us to take what we’ve learned from the tragedy of Covid-19 and use it to plan the UK’s recovery for a safer, more sustainable future. The government recognises this, but we need to see its commitments backed up by a substantive and a serious reappraisal of energy infrastructure, its management and regulation. I look forward to the publication of the long-awaited energy white paper and to playing our part in developing the UK’s Transmission and Distribution infrastructure to enable its delivery.