2020 has been an unprecedented year in many respects. Clearly, Covid-19 has had a severe impact on all of all lives, with the UK government also having to deal with the economic fallout.
However, 2020 has also seen great strides taken towards the UK’s green recovery and net zero ambitions.
Over the last few weeks, the prime minister has published his ten-point plan for a green industrial revolution, set a new carbon emissions target for 2030 and published the much-awaited energy white paper outlining plans to further decarbonise our energy system and provide affordable power for all.
These commitments from the government are welcomed by all of us in the industry. The energy white paper, in particular, provides greater clarity on the government’s green priorities. The paper will enable us to move even further with our long-term investment decisions that will create jobs while developing the network capacity and flexibility needed to deliver net zero by 2050. Meeting the ambitions of the paper in key areas will be a large focus for the industry in the coming years.
Tech development key to mass adoption of EVs but clear rollout plan is also needed
The pieces of the EV charging puzzle are falling into place. Government continues to back the roll out with investment to ramp up the delivery of rapid EV charging, while the industry continues to invest and innovate to plug the gaps in charging availability across the UK. Facilitating the mass adoption of electric vehicles will be the next step in this process.
At WPD we are making the investments to provide motorway charging through our Take Charge programme, as well as delivering city centre charging that utilises network capacity through DC Share. There is plenty more to come in 2021 in this space as well.
The future challenge for EV infrastructure is how it is rolled out across towns, cities, motorways and rural areas. Across the UK there are millions of homes that lack off-street parking and others in rural communities that may struggle to find accessible charging points. We are collaborating with a number of local authorities, planners and other key stakeholders throughout our region to fully understand the priorities and requirements for each local area in our region. A joined up, collaborative strategy will enable the mass rollout of EV charging across the UK to ensure nobody is left behind.
Electrification of heat should focus on those not connected to gas
The next, and possibly biggest challenge is the decarbonisation of heat. We were pleased to see that the government has committed to installing 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 – equating to over 1,600 heat pumps being commissioned every day in the UK.
At WPD, we plan on focusing on customers who are not currently connected to gas – equating to around 4 million homes across the UK – and are often found at the edges of the electricity and gas network in rural areas.
Accelerating the reinforcement of the electricity network across such regions will support the country’s net zero ambitions by targeting customers who are highly likely to convert to heat pumps first but may need additional support from the industry to do so.
Renewables: Let’s not let it go to waste
Renewable energy is going to be one of the biggest drivers to achieving net zero and the government has set a strong ambition for the role of wind. Delivering these on local scale will increasingly become common. On WPD’s network we currently have over 3.9GW of solar energy and 1.4GW of wind directly plugged into our network, the equivalent of one and half times the capacity of Hinkley Point C.
But we can’t let all of this energy go to waste when the demand isn’t there. Investment in batteries and storage is a crucial area that will need to be delivered and the UK will need to invest heavily in this over the coming decades.
The time is now
The publication of government’s energy white paper at the end of a tumultuous year has set the tone for 2021 and laid down the gauntlet for the industry.
Ensuring the flexible utilisation of our entire network capacity, efficient storage of green energy and use of data and digitalisation will all be core to ensuring we remain on track to meet the government’s – and our own – targets by 2050.