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8 | 27TH OCTOBER - 2ND NOVEMBER 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Interview point where it has subsidy parity with other forms of generation," says Wright, who characterises the sector's achieve- ments in the last CfD auction as a "break- through moment". "People started to really understand what has been achieved in this space in terms of cost reduction, and what that truly means for its potential. "When I first joined Dong – Orsted – I read a report which said the whole of Europe could be powered 1.8 times over by wind from the North Sea alone. That is a staggering statistic. Now, people can see that the cost part of that challenge has been addressed. The potential for offshore wind to be the backbone of the new energy system is being appreciated and people are getting very excited about it." Can the price of offshore wind keep dropping? Abso- lutely, says Wright, who believes that "the world will inevitably have moved on" from the £57.50/MWh con- tract secured by Dong this September, by the time the next auction takes place in February 2018. "I'm no fortune teller, but I do continue to be stag- gered that even in mature technologies you can keep finding more efficiency. Think of the internal combustion engine and how we are still getting more and more fuel- efficient vehicles. You are never done… are we out of the steepest part of curve now? Probably. But does the cost now just plateau? No." Wright is clearly delighted that "the job's not done yet" on offshore wind cost reduction. But this news might not be music to the ears of all in the energy sector. The record low contracts secured by the offshore wind sector this September inevitably triggered renewed criticism of the controversial strike price afforded to the Hinkley Point C new nuclear project in Somerset and reanimated an ongoing debate about the relative value of clean baseload power to the future energy system, versus continued expansion of cheaper intermittent renewable energy sources. Wright's not shy of seizing this thorny issue, and though he keeps his language relatively diplomatic, it's clear he doesn't put much stock in the idea that a ra of new nuclear plants is essential to support low-carbon energy security in the future. "It's good to have the debate," he says. "This is the whole point – the world moves on. Does £92.50 for Hin- kley look as good a deal a year on, now that we know the new price for offshore wind? It's easy to look with the ben- efit of hindsight and say 'I'm not sure I got the best deal'." Now, says Wright, the UK should absorb the evi- dence at hand and accept that "there are alternatives [to nuclear power]. There may be more alternatives in the fullness of time". And while the Hinkley deal may be impossible to unpick, future new nuclear schemes "must do better, now that we know what an alternative cost is". But cost isn't the only issue. What about the problems that intermittency poses for the grid, and the need for baseload power to give it a cushion of stability? Wright isn't convinced by these arguments in favour of nuclear investment. "This idea of baseload is overplayed, because what we are seeing is more flexibility in the demand side. So yes, it's true we are getting more inter- mittent sources on the supply side, but equally, there is going to be storage flexibility on the demand side. Peo- ple are getting excited– I think with good reason – about electric vehicles, and the ability to store energy in a very distributed way." Such developments, alongside the use of energy conversion technologies to complement renewable generation assets, mean that "intermittency of supply becomes less of an issue", insists Wright. Getting on a roll, he continues: "People write off renewables as intermittent and therefore not baseload. But the best off- shore wind projects today have got a 50 per cent load factor. So on average, they are generating nameplate capacity 50 per cent of the time. "If you look at the diversity benefits of the some of the projects in the North Sea you can probably get that to more like 70 or even 80 per cent… True, that still means there are times when the wind isn't blowing and you need something else in the mix. But something else that was generating 80 per cent of the time would be called baseload." With Orsted having so many eggs in the offshore wind basket, it's unsurprising that even its newer executives are so ready to defend its virtues. But not everything in the business revolves around a nacelle. In the UK, Orsted's other interests include the commercialisation of a first of a kind energy-from-waste technology, being demonstrated at its Renescience plant near Northwich, and its energy retail business for the industrial and commercial market. It also has feelers out in the energy storage market, not just for the purpose of making wind a "firmer" product, but also to exploit its potential as "a market in its own right", providing flexibility services to the grid. Wright hopes the Renescience experiment will provide Orsted with another opportunity to prove its expertise in advancing nascent technologies to scale deployment. The plant, which is currently being com- missioned, will produce a range of recycled materials and refuse-derived fuels from unsorted household waste, for application in myriad industries. Among these prod- ucts, biogas is key, and Wright sees the potential to forge relationships with local gas grid operators, to provide them with low-carbon fuel for their networks. In the retail business, meanwhile, Wright says the focus is all on building its energy services strategy – enabling customers to achieve organisational targets for cost or carbon emissions reductions, rather than vending energy. Of course a key factor in the energy consumption of many industrial businesses is their water usage, but despite his experience in this sector, Wright says Orsted has no plans to bundle water retail into its energy- management-as-a-service proposition. "It isn't something we've discussed," he says with a smile. "But who knows – I've heard there's a market there!" Another direction Orsted will not be taking anytime soon in its energy retail business is an expansion into domestic supply. While other established names such as Engie and Shell have recently made this leap, Wright says it's not something he currently considers viable – "that said, we are a supplier in Denmark, where we have a million domestic customers. So it is something within the group's capabilities". For now though, Wright is focused on the funda- mentals for Orsted UK. And while these include rising interests in the circular economy and service innova- tion, overwhelmingly they centre on the conviction that offshore wind will be the keystone in the world's low-carbon future. "People write off renewables as intermittent and therefore not baseload. But the best offshore wind projects today have got a 50 per cent load factor."