Electricity Products Supply Chain Council
Background
BEAMA had previously launched the Electricity Products Supply Chain Council in Autumn 2022 following the publication of ‘Growing the Supply Chain for a Net Zero Energy System’. That report, produced by BEAMA and the Energy Systems Catapult, revealed the huge opportunities that lie in the growth of green industrial sectors and job creation. The work set out the criticality of investment in the next 5-10 years if we are to limit the overall cost of reach Net Zero and interim Carbon Budgets.
The Council established a group of interested private and public sector stakeholders active in the energy sector and linked to a wider Government forum. After initial setup and progress work continued in the background including feeding insight and evidence into the Winser Review, the report from the Government-appointed Electricity Networks Commissioner that set out numerous findings and recommendations for speeding up deployment of transmission network infrastructure in the UK.
Current task
Following that review, DESNZ issued its Transmission Acceleration Action Plan in November 2023. The TAAP assigned specific organisations to lead work items to make progress to meeting the recommendations of the Winser Review. BEAMA was tasked with establishing a forum by early 2024 to make progress on Supply Chain recommendation SC3, which states:
“Further work and collaboration is required between the Transmission Owners (TOs), supply chain and government to understand how manufacturing capability could be developed in the UK.”
SC3 recommends in the short term measures to improve delivery of infrastructure to meet offshore wind generation and power system decarbonisation targets, and in the longer term improving manufacturing capacity and skills. A priority action is calculating the approximate value added potential of improving the transmission network to 2040.
BEAMA and Council members will also be feeding into recommendations SE1, SE2, NC1 and SC1.
DESNZ has recently announced the split of funding for its Green Industries Growth Accelerator, with £390m available to electricity networks and offshore wind over the next five years.
Scale of the challenge
We face a significant challenge and opportunity to improve the electricity network in the UK. In the words of the TAAP:
“Expect a doubling in demand for electricity by 2050”
“The most radical modernisation of the grid since the 1950s”
“We will need around four times as much new transmission network in the next seven years as we have built since 1990”
“Halve the timeline for building new infrastructure from 14 to 7 years”
“Success depends on implementing the package as a whole”
Engagement
We would be happy to hear from any private or public sector organisations with a stake in improving the delivery of projects, manufacturing capacity and skills development in the UK for electricity networks and end use products, with an aim to improve investment and deployment for the benefit of the economy and decarbonisation. If you would like to find out more or get involved, please contact [email protected].
