Utility Week

10 | MAY 2022 | UTILITY WEEK Energy higher, while the planning rules are more relaxed than in England, says the CCC's Thompson. What has been holding back consented projects has been the recently relaxed exclu- sion of onshore wind from the CfD auction process. Ed Birkett, head of energy and climate at thinktank Onward, says: "The immedi- ate opportunity to accelerate deployment is for projects in the existing pipeline that have planning permission, and those are not onshore wind projects in England. "Even if you liberalise planning laws in England, it would still take a while to do land deals and get grid connections. Where you can accelerate the most is probably wind in Scotland and Wales, and solar." Bell, who is now director of policy at con- sultancy Stonehaven, says it may be possible to secure an additional 5-10GW of onshore wind generation in Scotland. However, any hopes of achieving 30GW of onshore wind by 2030 have disappeared, he says: "Those numbers are o‰ the cards for the next decade." Even if onshore wind had been given an easier ride in England, the grid may not be able to cope with the additional low-carbon generation it delivered, says Thompson. However, greater reliance on Scottish and o‰ shore wind resources will increase the pressure to build additional grid infra- structure, Bell says: "Given that onshore wind would be generated closer to points of demand, it is more likely to push system costs up. "The grid is already constrained by the lack of connections between England and Scotland, which will only be exacerbated by this." Networks The increasingly lopsided nature of the grid as Scottish wind power provides a grow- ing share of UK generation is already caus- ing problems, says Howard. "Investment in the grid between England and Scotland has lagged behind capacity, which has led to lot of curtailment of renewable power and will only get worse if we add tens of GWs to the system at the same time," he says. The good, and perhaps unexpected, news is that many see the strongest section of the 12-page document as that on networks. Buckland says this section contains the strategy's "most signiŽ cant policy shi' ". Onward's Birkett hails the strategy for "really" grappling with the UK's network challenges, highlighting the "substantial moves" trailed in the document on encour- aging investment ahead of need. Buckland, who is now a director at pub- lic a‰ airs company Flint Global, believes this "slight shi' away from competition at all costs" will mean that delivering network infrastructure will be prioritised. While welcome, though, the proposals on networks in the strategy remain a list of bullet points that need " eshing out, he says. "For developers, it's really good but we need to see the next layer of detail." Energy e ciency While much of the strategy gets mixed reviews, the biggest blot is the near absence of any steps to boost energy e" ciency The CCC's Thompson describes the gap on energy e" ciency as "glaring". "If this strategy was about incentivising energy security and reducing energy bills, isn't energy e" ciency the single best way to address that?" asks Howard. "Given the UK's relatively poor housing, there is still so much low-hanging fruit." Other European countries have given energy e" ciency a "far more prominent" role in their responses to the security crisis," he–adds. More than midway through the current parliament, the government has only allo- cated £6.6 billion of the £9.2 billion promised for energy e" ciency in the last Conservative manifesto, says Newport: "The Treasury is a big block because it is not even coming good on promises they have made, let alone going further because of the crisis." continued from previous page The case for investment in energy e" - ciency has become "more acute" because of the Ukraine war's impact on gas prices, he says, arguing that energy e" ciency should be seen as one of the "economic costs of war". "The normal response to the costs of war- fare is to socialise them: the Treasury could be a lot more creative in its response. "In that context, it's very narrow-minded to say this is not a problem for the taxpayer to have a role in. It doesn't match the new reality." Energy e" ciency is a "spend to save" measure that will beneŽ t the economy in the long run, says Newport. And many individuals have su" cient DIY skills to lag their own lo' s, particularly if they are o‰ ered the insulation rolls for free. "It's not beyond the wit of industry with the right incentives and signals to get a few million extra lo' s lagged immediately. That kind of creativity is sorely lacking." The CCC has calculated that around two- thirds of UK households require less than £1,000-worth of work to get their homes up to the EPC band C rating Howard calculates that the total cost of this work comes to around £20 billion, which is less than it costs to deliver a single nuclear power station, like Hinkley, "We can't Ž x every home this winter, but we can make a big dent over the next two to three years," says Newport, adding that this timeframe is three times quicker than any chance of Sizewell coming on stream. However, delaying a decision on support for energy e" ciency is "really shortsighted" and makes it unlikely that the supply chain will gear up in time to deliver beneŽ ts by next winter, he says: "Not doing this now you are probably losing a year." The former civil servant understands why politicians, mindful of some of the mis- guided advice recently issued by suppliers, don't want to be seen lecturing households about their energy use. However, particularly in the context of the current crisis, it should be feasible to cra' a message about why saving energy makes sense in terms of national security as well as bills. Turning down thermostats by a degree could save 10% of domestic gas use, which nearly equates to the UK's imports of the fuel from Russia, he says: "It is such a simplicity of message; it strikes me as a complete lack of imagination and faith in the British public to pull together in a crisis. "It is a very strange, missed opportunity to not even try and give that message." David Blackman, policy correspondent "It's not beyond the wit of industry with the right incentives and signals to get a few million extra lofts lagged immediately. That kind of creativity is sorely lacking." Daniel Newport, head of net zero, Tony Blair Institute "It's not beyond the wit of industry with the right incentives and signals to get a few million extra lofts lagged immediately. That kind of creativity is sorely lacking." , head of net zero, Tony Blair Institute Analysis

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