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The boss of one of Britain’s biggest energy companies has urged whoever wins the general election to “tackle head-on” the practical and bureaucratic issues holding back Britain’s green transition.
Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power, said ministers must tackle issues ranging from skills shortages to lengthy planning and procurement processes that are delaying the development of projects such as hydrogen power stations and electricity cables.
“We’ve had a lot of reviews. . . a lot of conversations,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. “What has actually changed? Nothing.
“We still use the same processes, we still have the same conversations. Nothing has changed. Nothing has become faster and nothing is different.”
Scottish Power, part of Spanish energy giant Iberdrola, owns and invests in wind turbines, electricity grids and solar panels across the country, as well as supplying energy to around 4.6 million homes.
Anderson, a member of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s board of business advisers, said Britain has a “colossal” opportunity in clean energy but it must “lead the way”.
“My frustration is that there are easy answers that don’t cost money,” he added, highlighting reforms such as those to the planning system as an area that could make a big difference.
“Fundamentally, the process isn’t working well – you’re looking at these huge, big infrastructure projects; we must act faster [ . . .] short-circuit the process and make sure everyone gets into the room.
Another concern is skills shortages, he said. “We have to deal with it before it becomes a huge limitation.”
His comments reflect wider concerns in the energy sector that Britain is not set up to meet its ambitious decarbonisation targets.
Britain has made a legal commitment to cut emissions to zero by 2050, with Sunak’s government setting an interim target to decarbonise the electricity system by 2035.
The opposition Labor party, which is leading in the polls ahead of the July 4 general election, wants to do this by 2030. Both require a rapid increase in renewable energy generation, with Labor aiming to increase offshore wind, triple solar power and quadruple solar power. double the onshore wind capacity.
Aurora Energy Research said in a report published in March that Britain was “off course” on both the 2030 and 2035 targets, and that decarbonisation of the energy system would not be achieved until 2051 without a “major change in policies and market interventions”.
The 2035 target required “significant new interventions,” the consultancy added, while doing so earlier was “likely infeasible.”
If elected, Labor has pledged to create a new state-owned energy company, Great British Energy, to help boost renewables by investing alongside the private sector.
Anderson urged the company to focus on less mature technologies and areas where “government can have the biggest difference,” adding: “If you’re just another bank, I don’t need another bank. It’s not going to change the planning process.”
He stressed that parent company Iberdrola had been “incredibly supportive” of Britain, but noted that the country faces competition from around the world.
“If Spain or America moves faster, money will flow there faster,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t spend the money in Britain.
“But I would rather spend this year, next year and the year after than have to wait five years to get anything through the planning system.”
A Conservative party spokesperson said the Conservatives have “taken bold action to deliver a 500 percent increase in the amount of renewable energy connected to the grid since 2010” and are “supporting £100 billion of investment in the energy industry ”.
Labor said it was confident its plan to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030 could be achieved, citing the endorsement of the target by Sir Patrick Vallance, former chief scientific adviser. The plans would “reduce bills and make our country energy independent,” a spokesperson added.