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| MAY 2023 | UTILITY WEEK
Electricity
Interview
"To enable that reliable,
clean energy system that
will ultimately bring
people's bills down, we
need to invest now in the
transmission system."
Carl Trowell,
PRESIDENT, UK STRATEGIC INFRASTRUCTURE, NATIONAL GRID
A
er the big six energy retailers, National Grid
is arguably the most public face of the utilities
sector.
However, the company openly admits that while
everybody knows its name, awareness of exactly what it
does is far lower.
In particular, there is a desire to highlight the role
of the electricity transmission system in the net-zero
journey – making the link between a 400kv double cir-
cuit in East Anglia and the use of clean energy to power
people's kettles, hairdryers and hot water.
This is the task facing Carl Trowell, National Grid's
new president of UK Strategic Infrastructure, who
speaks to Utility Week in his first interview since joining
the company in February.
Trowell joined the company from marine infrastruc-
ture specialist Acteon, where he was chief executive,
to head up a new business unit tasked with rolling out
major transmission projects. These are the 17 schemes
being rolled out in England and Wales under Ofgem's
Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI)
framework.
He foresees a "decade of unprecedented investment
in the grid" and says it is crucial that blockers to rapid
progress are removed as quickly as possible.
"It is very clear that there can be no energy transition
without a major upgrade of the transmission system
and to do that needs a very different approach. We are
moving from a long-standing and understood regulatory
framework that was focused on steady investment and
cutting costs through efficiency. But now we're moving
to a very different era where we've got to find a way to be
able to do anticipatory investments.
"So the ASTI projects are a really good way to launch
that. But it's just the beginning. We need more refine-
ment to the regulatory process, to the consenting pro-
