Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 3RD - 9TH MAY 2019 | 7 Interview K eith Anderson doesn't have to look very far to see the fruits of Scottish Power's remarkable transfor- mation. From the window of the boardroom on the top floor of the company's Glasgow HQ, where we meet, the horizon is punctuated by wind turbines. They make up the largest onshore wind farm in the UK – Scottish Power's Whitelee array. Now celebrating its 10th birthday, Whitelee made renewables mainstream, says the Scottish Power chief executive. And it was a major milestone in the journey for a group transitioning from fossil fuel to 100 per cent renewables – having completed the sale of last gas gen- erators to Drax in January 2019. "We've shut down the coal, we've sold off the gas, and with the projects we're building and have in plan- ning right now, we will replace our entire generation portfolio in terms of its size and scale with renewables. That's a massive transition," says its proud architect. Anderson, a qualified accountant and Scottish Power employee since 1999, became chief executive in February this year. For the past 15 years, he's been chief executive of Scottish Power Renewables, delivering an investment programme that included the construction of Whitelee. For some of that time he was also responsible for par- ent company Iberdrola's international offshore business based in Glasgow, overseeing major wind development projects in the UK, France and Germany. Scottish Power can claim to be the UK's largest onshore wind farm developer, producing more than 2GW of power across 40 sites – including latterly sites offshore. It has ambitious growth plans in East Anglia, where it is currently constructing the 702MW East Anglia One offshore wind farm at a cost of £2.5 billion and has already secured planning permission for the 1.2GW East Anglia Three project with two more going through plan- ning consultations. The company is spending £2 billion in 2019 on clean technologies, as part of its £6 billion investment from 2018 to 2022, and, says Anderson, will this year be creat- ing 300 extra green collar jobs, 150 of which will be for recent graduates and apprentices. Also on the agenda are plans to invest in battery storage and solar power, on new sites or land around the wind farms. "It helps to balance the mix of renewable energy, and it helps to bal- ance the system," he says. Going 100 per cent renewable wasn't a Eureka moment. "It's about a realisation of climate change and that we need to deal with this. It will provide cheaper energy and, besides, the public are demanding it." The interview took place a¢er school children had been striking to get governments to do more to tackle cli- mate change. Anderson picks up on the youth sentiment. "Youngsters are saying 'this is our future, it's about us, not you' and we need to listen to them. "I've got four daughters, and that's what they want as well. That's what we need to be out there delivering. It's not about our future, it's about our children and the next generations." The move to 100 per cent renewables has played well with customers, he asserts. When Scottish Power announced its results in February 2019, the big six suppli- er's profits from its retail operations were up 187 per cent to £271.8 million for 2018, and it had held the total num- ber of gas and electricity customers stable at just above five million. This followed a customer exodus in 2017 trig- gered by aggressive competition from smaller rivals. For Q1 of 2019, retail has not fared so well, hit by the price cap and a mild winter. "The question we always get asked is 'can we go 100 per cent renewables for the whole of the UK today?' The honest answer is probably no. We need more innovation coming through, and part of that is about storage, and the way we use storage in the system. "And right now, the best technology for that is batter- ies. That's the next part of the process for us." A recent report from EDF Energy claimed that recon- figuring Scotland's electricity system so that it could run purely on renewable energy would require £56 billion- worth of battery capacity, making an argument perhaps against those like Anderson who point to the low cost of wind, compared with nuclear (see p8). Anderson, for his part, claims that as well as storage it's also about optimising how the system works. The Iberdrola-owned group is still a vertically inte- grated operation, with retail, generation, and distribu- tion networks. It is also the transmission owner for the south of Scotland. Full integration gives it a huge advan- tage in tackling climate change, Anderson believes. "People o¢en look at our sector and say: 'Oh, you're one of those big old-fashioned integrated utilities, there's no future for you.' We've currently got two of the big six energy companies who have basically said 'we no longer want a retail business.' And they've tried to put them up for sale. You have a number of others in the sector say- ing: 'Our future is either just in customers or it's just in infrastructure.' "Our view is that doesn't actually make you fit for purpose, it doesn't make you deliver what's needed in the future, and it doesn't help you deal with the future market." Having a hand in the whole system puts Scottish Power in the driving seat to nurture innovation and

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