Network

of the future of hydrogen." In addition to reducing carbon emissions, Ofgem highlights heat pumps' potential to signi - cantly reduce customer heating bills and is committed to chan- nelling further funding towards promoting their uptake. At Western Power Distribu- tion, we are getting on with the job, with plans for our ED2 busi- ness plan setting sights on over 400,000 domestic heat pumps by 2030. This solution harnesses natural, atmospheric or ground heat, with greatly reduced energy requirements. So how do we get more heat pumps on the ground? The Government could send a strong signal through targeted adjustments to UK planning regulations for all new-build homes and introduce tax incen- tives on heat pumps to promote their rapid adoption. Blending the initial heat pump costs into the sale price of the home would lessen the impact on homeowners. By embracing heat pumps and working with the con- struction and house building industries, the UK can make inroads into eliminating a third of our national carbon emissions by supercharging the decarbonisation of homes. Cleaning up our roads Delivering his rst budget as Chancellor, Rishi Sunak stated that "road transport is responsible for 91 per cent of domestic transport emissions, and around a " h of overall UK emissions." With road transport contributing the lion's share of the UK's carbon, facilitating the switch towards electric vehicles must be a priority for the government and industry. Once again, the UK has made great progress setting out its decar- bonisation goals, with transport secretary Grant Shapps recently unveiling the government's aim to halt the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 or ear- lier if possible, but the roadmap to delivering a strategy for the alternatives remains uncharted. To reach this target, the UK will need infrastructure to accommodate an estimated 38 million new electric vehicles predicted to be on the road by 2050. The electricity needed to charge these EVs will be equivalent to 140 times the elec- tricity currently used to power Birmingham. In 2020, we face a chicken- and-egg scenario: currently, there is insu™ cient charg- ing infrastructure available nationwide to accommodate EVs, with many more rural areas such as Wales having very few public chargers. As stated in the National Assembly for Wales, Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee report 'Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure', "the infrastructure in Wales for electric vehicles currently limited, in particular in terms of rapid chargers." Consumers are aware of this disparity, with the Transport Research Laboratory's 2019 study 'Consumers, Vehicles and Energy Integration (CVEI)' nding that one of the main reasons people are hesitant to purchase EVs is the lack of charging options and a fear of being stranded. However, with- out increased uptake of EVs, it is di™ cult to make an economic case for expanding the UK's charging network. To help alleviate these con- cerns, the Government commit- ted £500 million in the recent Budget to fund the development of a rapid charging infrastruc- ture, with the aim of ensuring that UK drivers are never more than 30 miles from a charge point. However, the scale of this challenge is increasing every day. To meet government's target of banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2035, WPD estimates that we will need to install around 5,400 public charge points across our licence areas, every day for the next 15 years, or to achieve the 2050 target we would have to build 2,700 charge points per day. Every time we miss this daily installation target, the number of chargers we need to accommodate increases for every subsequent day. To achieve the UK's low carbon transport ambitions, a coordinated government and industry vehicle charging strategy is needed. Where the current fragmented approach has made some progress, o" en driven by local governments, headway has been fragmented and inconsistent. A common, national ap- proach is needed to coordinate the wide range of options avail- able – from homes to service stations, town centre carparks to supermarkets – to ensure that everyone has access to safe, a¥ ordable and low carbon recharging for their vehicle. The Department for Trans- port's recently released paper on Decarbonising Transport highlighted that more than a third of households in England do not have access to o¥ -street parking. One example of how we need to create a clear strat- egy that works for call. Clarity for consumers It is important that, with the evolution of the ideas, technolo- gies and approaches for deliver- ing a net-zero UK, consumers are given clear information and advice from decision makers and the industry. With so many options available for decar- bonisation, consumers must be armed with the knowledge and understanding of the lifestyle changes needed to reach net- zero to enable them to make informed choices. Along this journey, it is important that both industry and government have a frank dialogue with consumers about the way forward. For example, carbon capture and storage is a fantastic way of stopping carbon being released into the atmosphere, but we should be honest with consumers that it is not a quick x. It will take time to implement and develop the facilities that can e¥ ectively capture and store carbon. Ultimately, we will need consumers to choose the low carbon option in future - but without simply and honestly explaining the costs and the bene ts of these choices, we cannot expect UK consumers to make the right choice alone and unsupported. The UK has led the world in setting out the challenge and the ambition for decarbonisa- tion. However, the time has come to commit to a clear route to net zero by implementing road-tested and proven tech- nologies. By outlining a consistent na- tional strategy, the government can set the industry in motion to deliver, while building sustain- able public trust and consensus. The government must act now by implementing policies sup- porting oven-ready solutions, while legislating to tackle the larger more long-term challeng- es we must overcome to achieve its net zero target by 2050. Roger Hey, DSO systems & projects manager, Western Power Distribution NETWORK / 12 / APRIL/MAY 2020 DECARBONISATION "To achieve the UK's low carbon transport ambitions, a coordinated government and industry vehicle charging strategy is needed."

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