Low Carbon Generation

The UK could source 76% of its power demand from renewables by 2050, according to a new report from Renewable UK which claims that the nation's net-zero target will spur rapid demand for green hydrogen while attracting more than £50bn to an already world-leading offshore wind sector.

Meanwhile, our CEO, Graham Harle signed the climate advocacy agreement which has over 155 global corporations urging governments to align their COVID-19 recovery efforts with the latest climate science.

Statutory Utility Providers Update

UKPN held a “metered supply scrutiny panel” webinar this month where the key focus was “return to work” and how UKPN are preparing their organisation. UKPN advised that they have introduced a queuing system that projects requiring connections and diversions are now being progressed by the relevant UKPN project managers. What this means; if your project was due for work to commence before the lockdown, you should be notified by the UKPN PM that they are now ready for a start on site. If UKPN has had to carry out any temporary works to ensure that their network was not at risk during the lockdown period, i.e temporary ends etc., the development or project will not have to reimburse UKPN for these additional works. Having said that please confirm with the individual PM first for clarification. We suspect that many of the other statutory utilities will follow suit shortly and re-commence their regular connection and diversion activities.

NIC urges greater utility resilience planning The National Infrastructure Commission has set out its thinking around better planning and stress testing of utility and transport infrastructure to better prepare the UK for the potential increased threat from future challenges, adding “the framework proposed in our report offers the tools to face uncomfortable truths, value resilience properly, test for vulnerabilities and drive adaption before it’s too late”. The NIC adds that such planning and forethought could spur job growth as part of a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Tesla energy

Tesla, the well known electric vehicle company has submitted an application to electricity markets regulator, OfGEM, to become a UK Generator. Whilst it is not yet clear what Tesla’s plans are, speculation is mounting that this could be related to their Autobidder real-time trading platform that enables power producers to capitalise on energy supply via their battery assets. Watch this space for updates but clearly this is a company with real drive.

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