SSE casts doubt on Labour’s 2030 green grid goal

The biggest challenge to Labour’s goal to decarbonise the power system by 2030 is a regulatory structure designed for the government’s less ambitious 2035 target, a senior SSE director has warned.

Quizzed by Utility Week on the feasibility of the opposition’s 2030 pledge at last week’s Labour Party conference, SSE Thermal managing director Catherine Raw raised concerns that it could be stymied by already baked-in arrangements.

“The biggest challenge a Labour government coming into power will find is that all of the systems and structures and funding mechanisms are designed for 2035 and they’ve already been issued.”

As an example, she pointed to Ofgem’s Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) programme, which is premised on building out the level of transmission infrastructure required to deliver the government’s ambition of 50GW of offshore wind generation by 2030.

“That is not enough to get to a decarbonised power system. The next investment mechanism after that will then get you to 2035,” Raw said, referring to the government’s mid-2030s target date for achieving a net zero grid.

The first power generation carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, around 9GW of which will be required to enable a zero-carbon grid, are not due to start construction until 2027, Raw added.

In addition, some factors in the CCS process are beyond the industry’s control, such as the geology of storage sites, she said: “You cannot ramp up a CO2 store based on ambition.

“You work backwards from 2035 then you realise we should have started two years ago and now you’ve got someone saying that you’re going to get to that by 2030.

“I’m all for 2030 but you’ve got to work backwards. You don’t want to rush this because if it fails, we’ll never do it again.”

Steve Scrimshaw, vice president of Siemens Energy UK & Ireland, agreed with Raw that Labour’s 2030 goal will be a “challenge” and would rely on increasing the industry’s delivery capacity.

“Everybody’s racing to try and get capacity: most of the capacity is already taken in the global supply chain so you’re having to look at increasing capacity.”

But he said that one positive aspect of the government’s cancellation of the northern leg of the High Speed 2 rail line is that it may free up skilled workers and materials, such as concrete, for projects in other sectors.