UK power grid renewal ‘frustratingly slow’
A growing power equipment maker in the UK is calling for the coming industrial strategy to provide more visibility of power grid upgrades to accelerate the ‘frustratingly slow’ move to clean technologies.
“We see the opportunity and challenge of an industrial strategy to help to deliver clearly ambitious targets. Some of the statistics are out there for clean power by 2030 show the money that needs to be spent is eye watering,” he said. “We occupy a very niche slice of the industry but a critical one,” Jon Hiscock, the CEO of Fundamentals tells eeNews Europe.
The company makes voltage control equipment for the grid, manufacturing in Swindon, UK. It has also grown a services team and is implementing digital technology to manage legacy assets.
“We have great innovation projects but the scale up is frustratingly slow. Today’s power grids are aging and not designed to cope with the dynamics of a low carbon world – 225GW of capacity needs to be released to decarbonise the grid by 2035 with demand on the grid set to double by 2036,” he said.
“In our experience we haven’t seen any real uptake in demand yet and one of the key asks is more visibility of what is coming down the tracks, how the grid needs to be renewed to accept low carbon technologies. This should create a lot of demand but we can’t increase capacity by a factor of five overnight,” he said.
His company is one of 17 that have called for a more coordinated industrial strategy from the UK government to include the supply chain for electrical equipment. This long delayed strategy is expected in the first half of 2025.
“Some product areas forecast the need to multiply production by over ten times by 2035 to meet the demands of the energy transition,” said Yselkla Farmer, CEO of electrical trade group BEAMA, which in December published a white paper with suggestions.
“The electricity sector has a unique challenge and opportunity as we need to grow capacity in the supply chain for electrical products at an unprecedented level and within a five-year timescale. This pushes the limits on the timescales normally worked to if building a new factory or expanding manufacturing capacity. This needs serious thought and partnership with Government, and businesses will need help if they are to act fast and make those crucial decisions to invest in the UK,” she said.
Without the power industry the industrial strategy is likely to fail.
“What is clear from our members is that an Industrial Strategy cannot just be a handful of piecemeal actions aimed at one or two sectors. Indeed, our first major conclusion is that what are usually considered as Industrial Strategy measures are highly unlikely to succeed if we do not first improve and clarify product demand across the energy sector, with strong interrelations between the networks and end use markets.”
“We also make a range of specific recommendations for improving industrial conditions, from skills and innovation to trade and digitalisation.
This is a key issue for Hiscock.
“Recruiting is a challenge not just for us but also for applying technology to the grid. A lot of technologies exist already but its about who will install and commission the equipment, and these might be overlooked. An industrial Strategy needs to promote more detailed thinking on what is necessary,” he said.
“This should be a golden opportunity for UK plc and the green economy, and we are concerned that the indicators we need for investment to grow the resources is not happening soon enough. We have to be ready ahead of need.”
“Our technology is secondary control up to 132kV, so it’s for distribution grids. We certainly work on transformers with voltage regulation which is becoming increasingly dynamic and has to cope with different power flows. Our pipeline of opportunities is high but we would like to see two or three year order books which would give us confidence to recruit more people and expand capacity. The timescales in recruiting and training are long. We also need to create the environment where it is attractive for investors. Why would you invest if there is no clear indication of the strategy,” he asks.
Energy innovation projects
He points to recent projects that the company has been involved with as examples of where innovation can drive growth. The Boston spa Energy Efficiency Trial (BEET) with Northern Power Grid is using smart meter data to drive the control algorithms at substations directly. “Our technology receives input from other sources on the grid rather than just from the substation itself, incorporating low voltage measurements and we are looking at mass deployment for this.”
The company is also working with UK Power in the Constellation project to build a digital substation. “In the protection and control system we provide the voltage control element,” he said.
BEAMA has written to request a meeting with Minister for Industry, Sarah Jones, to explain the contribution the power industry makes to economic growth, the huge potential and need for further development, and to discuss the problems holding back the sector that only government can solve.
The Supply Chain Council taskforce includes BEAMA, Renewable UK, BCA (British Cables Association), HPA (Heat Pump Association), LIA (Lighting Industry Association), Energy UK, ECA (Electrical Contractors Association), EDA (Electrical Distributors Association), ENA (Energy Networks Association), Scottish Renewables. It is also attended by Energy Systems Catapult, BSI, DESNZ, DBT, Ofgem, NESO and NIC.
www.fundamentals.tech; www.beama.org.uk
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
