The UK’s National Energy System Operator has released an independent analysis of how the country can achieve ‘clean power’ by 2030 in its CP30 Report. This advice was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, as part of the government’s mission to ‘make Britain a clean energy superpower.’ The analysis concludes that clean power is a huge challenge but is achievable for Great Britain by 2030.
The report sets out both the challenging hurdles that need to be overcome and the benefits to consumers, the economy and society, including Britain’s energy security that doing so could deliver.
The analysis shows that overall systems costs should not increase for a clean power system. Other factors could reduce electricity bills in 2030, including a reduction in legacy policy costs (as contracts expire) and energy efficiency improvements. Government policy decisions could also reduce bills by 2030.
Significant investment in making Great Britain’s energy system clean and fit for the future is needed. With this investment Great Britain could also become a world leader in first-of-a-kind technologies. Delivering a clean power system by 2030 increases the amount of domestic energy production and significantly reduces Great Britain’s exposure to potential energy price shocks from spikes in international gas prices.
The analysis shows that clean sources can produce at least as much power as Great Britain consumes in total in 2030, and concludes that a clean power system would be operable and maintain the world-class reliability standards for a secure energy system expected in Great Britain.
But delivering it by 2030 requires swift action from industry, regulators, government, and NESO, necessitating significant changes in approach. The right supply, demand, networks and flexibility all need to be developed. A key challenge will be making sure that all these deliver simultaneously, in full and at maximum pace, in a sustainable way to set GB on the right path beyond 2030.
Fintan Slye, chief executive, National Energy System Operator said: “There’s no doubt that the challenges ahead on the journey to delivering clean power are great. However, if the scale of those challenges is matched with the bold, sustained actions that are outlined in this report, the benefits delivered could be even greater. A clean power system for Great Britain will deliver a backbone of home-grown energy that breaks the link between volatile international gas prices, that is secure and affordably powers our homes and buildings, that decarbonises the transport system, that drives the businesses of today and catalyses the innovations of the future.”
Next steps
Government will now consider the advice in developing its clean power action plan later this year. Alongside the report, NESO is publishing a consultation on the methodologies which create the architecture for grid connections reform. The consultation proposes specific criteria and processes for reducing and re-ordering the connections queue, marking a shift from the current ‘first come, first served’ approach to grid connections, to prioritise those projects which are ready to proceed, and which align to the mix needed for the future energy system. Alignment of such grid connections is a critical step identified in the CP30 report.
CP30 may be downloaded from the NESO website; neso.energy/document/346651/download
