Utility Week

Policy & Regulation Interview Leading the power charge Clearly this won't all be down to the energy utility com- panies alone, but does Murison think the industry appre- ciates its key future role and is sufficiently prepared to be a driver for such ambitious regional plans? "Yes, and the reason I know is that we have close relationships with them. In energy terms the North isn't behind, we're ahead. And we should be ahead in energy because it's one of the things we're good at. "The challenge is that in order to grow the economy, we need to take that fact and turn it into an even greater opportunity. In order to succeed in the global race, we're going to have to capitalise on our leadership position and our strength in energy." Murison points to how work on this by strategic util- ity companies within the region has been under way for a long while – such as that done by Northern Power- grid's chief executive Phil Jones, in helping lead a review by an energy task force into the North. NPP is developing that work and will this year publish an "energy industrial strategy for the North". He also points to how Northern Gas Networks has "led the way on hydrogen", driving the national debate. "If it wasn't for their chief executive [Mark Horsley] and the work done on H21 [a suite of gas industry projects designed to support conversion of the UK gas networks to carry 100 per cent hydrogen], I don't think hydrogen would be anywhere on the government's agenda." If hydrogen is adopted as a key part of the country's decarbonisation of heat agenda (alongside ground- source heat pumps and district heating systems), Muri- son says: "I'm absolutely sure that the hydrogen rollout would be led from the North – in terms of where it will be used first and where it will have the biggest impact." It's the type of rationale that seems core to North- ern Powerhouse ambitions. Indeed, NPP's thinking around energy as a key driver has seen it consider, along with maximising the use of hydrogen, various energy-based growth scenarios being led by the North. Others include developing small modular reactors (SMRs), and grasping the opportunities presented by carbon capture use, transport and storage. Murison envisages a multi-track approach to the innovation that will be needed in some develop- ment areas. "From a utilities perspective, we're not saying if you want all of this innovation to happen then it will be within a regulated asset base (RAB). You don't necessar- ily need a RAB to do all this. But you will have to create new regulated asset bases. For example, we think there is a good case for treating and distributing captured carbon as essentially a utility role. It will require us to use RABs and create new utilities to do that. "There are a number of key deci- sions the government needs to make in the run-up to the Budget that will have a defining impact on whether we can rebalance the British economy or not – and many of them are in energy." The 'Greater North" The North produces a significant chunk of the UK's electricity, more than half of it renewable, alongside Scotland, says Murison, who talks easily about the con- cept of a "Greater North". The reference, he explains, is to regional links via the so-called Border- lands Initiative, a project aimed at over- coming political and cross-border differences to provide opportuni- ties for the overall area's economy. Policy & Regulation Interview Leading the power charge Clearly this won't all be down to the energy utility com- panies alone, but does Murison think the industry appre- ciates its key future role and is sufficiently prepared to be a driver for such ambitious regional plans? "Yes, and the reason I know is that we have close relationships with them. In energy terms the North isn't behind, we're ahead. And we should be ahead in energy because it's one of the things we're good at. "The challenge is that in order to grow the economy, we need to take that fact and turn it into an even greater opportunity. In order to succeed in the global race, we're going to have to capitalise on our leadership position and our strength in energy." Murison points to how work on this by strategic util- ity companies within the region has been under way for a long while – such as that done by Northern Power- grid's chief executive Phil Jones, in helping lead a review by an energy task force into the North. NPP is developing that work and will this year publish an "energy industrial strategy for the North". He also points to how Northern Gas Networks has "led the way on hydrogen", driving the national debate. "If it wasn't for their chief executive [Mark Horsley] and the work done on H21 [a suite of gas industry projects designed to support conversion of the UK gas networks to carry 100 per cent hydrogen], I don't think hydrogen would be anywhere on the government's agenda." If hydrogen is adopted as a key part of the country's decarbonisation of heat agenda (alongside ground- source heat pumps and district heating systems), Muri- son says: "I'm absolutely sure that the hydrogen rollout would be led from the North – in terms of where it will be used first and where it will have the biggest impact." It's the type of rationale that seems core to North- ern Powerhouse ambitions. Indeed, NPP's thinking around energy as a key driver has seen it consider, along with maximising the use of hydrogen, various energy-based growth scenarios being led by the North. Others include developing small modular reactors (SMRs), and grasping the opportunities presented by carbon capture use, transport and storage. Murison envisages a multi-track approach to the innovation that will be needed in some develop- ment areas. "From a utilities perspective, we're not saying if you want all of this innovation to happen then it will be within a regulated asset base (RAB). You don't necessar- ily need a RAB to do all this. But you will have to create new regulated asset bases. For example, we think there is a good case for treating and distributing captured carbon as essentially a utility role. It will require us to use RABs and create new utilities to do that. "There are a number of key deci- sions the government needs to make in the run-up to the Budget that will have a defining impact on whether we can rebalance the British economy or not – and many of them are in energy." The 'Greater North" The North produces a significant chunk of the UK's electricity, more than half of it renewable, alongside Scotland, says Murison, who talks easily about the con- cept of a "Greater North". The reference, he explains, is to regional links via the so-called Border- lands Initiative, a project aimed at over- coming political and cross-border differences to provide opportuni- ties for the overall area's economy. 14 | 7TH - 13TH FEBRUARY 2020 | UTILITY WEEK "Energy is a key part of our past, but it's also a key part of our future." continued from previous page Henri Murison, CEO, Northern Powerhouse Partnership

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