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NETWORK / 27 / MAY 2019 with the normal gas supply in part of Keele University's gas network. The 'HyNet' plan involves building a hydrogen production facility, in Cheshire (location tbc), by 2024, and distributing the gas to energy-intensive industry in the area. Some of the hydrogen would also be blended (at volumes up to 20 per cent) with natural gas used to heat two million homes in Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester. During his presentation, Fairman took the opportunity to lay out a challenge to government. "We need a heat strategy for industry," he remarked. Talking about the role of hydrogen, he added: "Hydrogen for industry creates a whole lot of enablers that we're starting to work through. Once we've got the backbone it will open up transport possibilities for Manchester and Liverpool." The chief executive of SP Energy Net - works Frank Mitchell talked about 'Democ- ratising the regulatory framework'. SP Energy Networks is the only network owner across Scotland, England and Wales. Mitchell compared the decarbonisa - tion ambitions of both the UK and Scottish Event partner Co-sponsors governments. He told attendees that to meet the UK government commitment to reduce emissions by at least 80 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050 the UK will need to reduce emissions by at least three per cent a year, from now on. Meanwhile, the Scottish Government is aiming to increase its ambition for emis - sions reduction by 2050 from 80 to 90 per cent against 1990 levels. In UK & Wales the target is for all new vehicles to be low emission by 2040. The Scottish government have accelerated this challenge to 2032. Mitchell commented: "The pace of change is not consistent. Westminster is running at the slowest pace. Not the city of Westminster, but the Westminster policies." The chief executive remarked that UK cities are at the forefront of the decarbonisa - tion agenda. "We have been looking at devolving pow- ers more to cities, but the area of energy is very restricted," he stated. In order to democratise the regulatory framework, Mitchell's final presentation slide put forward a number of suggestions to help achieve this. They included: - Local governments and stakeholders are best placed to decide their own local priori- ties and pace - Fairness in delivering the UK's decarboni- sation agenda, ensuring all communities can benefit from these opportunities is a key challenge – urban vs rural – wealthy vs poor - DNOs are best placed to lead on initiatives such as distribution system operator (DSO), as they understand the network, but more importantly local supply/demand customer dynamics. Meanwhile Philip New, chair of the gov- ernment's Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce, updated attendees on the progress of the group in the low carbon transformation of transport stream. New, who is chief executive of the Energy Systems Catapult, outlined the objective of the group which is to put engaging the electric vehicle user at the heart of prepar - ing the electricity system for the mass take up of electric vehicles (EV). He said: "One of the key tasks that we have as a taskforce is to try and broker conversa- tions, bring divergent stakeholders together to enable us to work collaboratively to form common solutions and break down walls and silos. To that end we had to work in the initial stages really hard just on thinking through how we could start to build a sense of common language." With a wide range of representatives from different sectors, New told attendees that the taskforce has taken an approach of splitting its work into four different pack - ages. They are: 1. A common strategic understanding of the requirements of the energy system to sup- port mass EV uptake. 2. Engaging EV users in smart charging and energy services. 3. Smart charging technical requirements. 4. Accessible data for decision making. A number of principles have been devel - oped to guide the work. New acknowledged that the work of the taskforce is far from over, adding: "One thing we've prided ourselves on as a taskforce is trying to make sure that we're as open as we can be to input from stakehold - ers across the whole space. Even though we're now well underway that doesn't mean that our eyes and ears are closed to the input of those that haven't yet had the op- portunity to engage." To download the speaker presentations from Network Forum 2019 visit https://event.net- works.online/forum/speaker-presentations/ Akshay Kaul from Ofgem addresses the audience in the flexible networks stream. Attendees listen on at Network Forum 2019. A panel discussion taking place.