A ‘Founding Statement’ has introduced Great British energy, an operationally independent company wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
The new company will be chaired by Juergen Maier, previously chair of supply chain company Siemens. It will be overseen by an independent fiduciary Board, rather than ministers, but with strategic objectives and a framework document agreed with the Secretary of State.
The company aims to be financially sustainable and self financing organisation in the long term, as it reinvests returns into new projects. But DESNZ said it will have “flexibility in its initial governance and powers, “so it can best drive value for UK taxpayers, billpayers and communities. DESNZ promises that “Trade unions will have a voice and representation”.
Initially GB Energy will have five roles:
• Project investment and ownership of clean power generation assets– particularly in less developed technologies, like floating offshore wind and carbon capture. The company will work with institutions such as the National Wealth Fund and U K Infrastructure Bank.
• Project development across clean energy technologies in all four nations. This includes a newly announced partnership with The Crown Estate, which will establish a new division “Great British Energy: The Crown Estate”. This partnership will: Bring forward new offshore wind developments; stimulate new technology in areas such as floating wind, hydrogen, carbon capture and tidal energy; invest in ports and clean energy supply chains, unlocking strategic bottlenecks; and reduce developer risks for future development. Onshore and offshore projects it may support projects on public land and prioritise sites where generation is most valuable for the whole energy system. This development work could include upfront work from land assessments and environmental surveys through to securing planning consent and grid connection
• Support delivery of a Local Power Plan, that will give local authorities and communities a stake as owners and stakeholders in local clean power projects. Partnering with local authorities and community energy groups, it wants to develop up to 8GW small and medium project, including shared ownership projects.
• It will help build the supply chains in the UK, workinmg with industry to accelerate the deployment of key energy projects using domestic manufacturing and supply chains.
• Explore how it can work with Great British Nuclear.
“Carbon capture” in GBE’s Founding Statement seems to be a comfortable euphemism – for very costly, energy intensive post-combustion CO2 capture processes (which have failed worldwide to achieve in routine operation at scale anything like the capture rates proposed, let alone 100% of their supply chain emissions), removal of impurities (especially moisture from dense-phase CO2), compression and transportation to the injection well, and, in rock formations, the phase-change of the CO2 and the demonstrably permanent storage of all the CO2 (- the performance of Sleipner and Snøhvit give cause for concern).
Reflecting the polluter pays principle and carbon take back obligations, and being aware that voters increasingly consider “carbon capture” proposals to be desperate but delusional delaying tactics, government should be wary of underwriting performance along carbon capture supply chains (including municipal energy from waste plants) – or accepting liability for their post-combustion CO2.
If Great British Energy will give local authorities the means to develop green energies in their area, this will help kick-start their reduction of the use of fossil fuels by enabling their production of fossil-free biomethane from organic waste and by wind, solar and other technologies where appropriate, such as tidal and hydro. Local energy storage will be vital to smooth the production of power and consumption, as well as the direct use of electric power generation to bypass the very expensive grid electricity that is holding up the use of locally produced electricity to power heat pumps and transport .