Industry leaders have warned that the UK is losing out to other countries in securing investment in its clean energy supply chain to enable net zero.
Speaking during the plenary session on the second day of All Energy in Glasgow, CEO of energy infrastructure manufacturers trade association BEAMA, Yselkla Farmer warned that: “Currently, what we see is the UK falling down the pecking order in terms in terms of attractiveness in investment, in manufacturing, where other countries have a clearer market signal for electrification and that drives the investment.”
She added that the US and parts of Europe are growing more attractive to build vital facilities at the expense of the UK.
“The clarity in other countries is so much better. It is much easier to justify a factory in Germany than it is in the UK. When we start being able to work with National Grid having to procure programmes we will be able to see a change.”
Clarity and certainty
Her fellow panellists called on the UK Government to provide greater clarity and certainty around its renewable ambitions to drive the country’s energy transition and reach net zero.
Siemens Energy head of market and government affairs Matthew Knight noted that: “The scale of what we’ve got to deliver is beyond what anyone working in the industry today has experienced in their working lives.”
He added: “Confidence gets built by consistent behaviour over a long period of time and it can be destroyed as we know from the past in a single speech.
“Political instability in the UK since 2016 has undermined previous confidence. Investors used to just assume things about the UK – now they ask questions. Complex and clumsy arrangements that we have in this country used to be tolerated when we were the only game in town. Now, those same processes compare less favourably to more streamlined nations.”
BEAMA’s Farmer pointed to recent actions and statements as contributing to UK’s decline compared to other countries.
“One thing I will say is that while the Government has increased the level of uncertainty in recent months, perhaps the vocabulary from senior ministers doesn’t reflect a real recognition of this problem.”
Skills
In addition to manufacturing capacity, skills are another major investment needed to drive the energy transition.
“Skills are the supply chain investment that takes the longest and is the most valuable,” Siemens Energy’s Knight said.
And head of low carbon skills at Cogent Skills Jude Knight added: “To make sure we have the right skills in the right place at the right time, we need more certainty. Industry simply will not invest in skills unless there is certainty and predictability.
“The government’s recent U-turn on banning fossil fuels is an example of that and the effect that had on businesses involved in that area.”
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