The opportunity
Since September, we have, of course, had the election of Donald Trump, who will be the 47th President of the US in January. While this paints a pessimistic picture of the world’s ability to overcome the climate crisis and establish a genuine clean energy revolution, it could perhaps create an opening for the UK to take steps toward a clean energy leadership position.
The UK government, which came into office in July, has identified making the UK a global clean energy superpower as one of its key priorities. One of its first actions was to lift the ban on onshore wind in England, and several developers have already submitted applications, many of which have been granted.
The UK is already, at least for now, perceived as a global leader in offshore wind power. The Humber area in Yorkshire is designated one of the leading clean energy hubs in the U. Not only for offshore wind but also for the development of other marine clean energy technologies – green hydrogen, electric vehicles (EV), carbon capture and storage (CCS). It is also recognised for the training centres that have been established to upskill, and re-skill, people to meet the needs created by the surge in new jobs established, by the jobs of tomorrow and by the skills gap.
The challenge
In the Danish port of Hanstholm, six support ships have secured the contract to service Dogger Bank, the UK giant offshore wind farm that is currently the largest in the world. Therein lies one of the key challenges for the UK green economy – currently, many of the skills required in the offshore wind sector are trained professionals who can perform these jobs. As a result, many jobs are carried out by Danish and German workers. If a dedicated training and education strategy had been put in place years ago, there would be less of a need to import workers from abroad.
When it comes to assessing the UK’s leadership position in clean energy overall, it should come down to more than just generating capacity. British jobs should be an important consideration when it comes to measuring success?
What should the priority be?
Establishing clean energy leadership brings other factors into play that would impact more expansive government areas than just the energy sector. Economic diversification is necessary so that, for instance, the economy is focused on more than just the service industry. A balance between manual, creative, and administrative-economic areas is crucial. The trend in many Western economies is to outsource specific industries to Asia or Africa. The result, is to make any given country vulnerable to drastic price increases.
For instance, solar panels, wind turbine blades, batteries, and electric vehicles are not manufactured at volume in the UK. Additionally, steel – a critical material in many clean energy applications, faces an uncertain future in the UK; too often, clean energy developers import cheaper steel from China and other countries, which in turn undercuts the UK’s steel industry. China can undercut UK steel as it does not have the same regulations and worker rights that we enjoy in the UK and Europe; needless to say, this is not something we should eliminate.
But a lot of it comes down to a visionary and dynamic thinking approach. It is not about trying to compete with China on what they already do well, which is a battle doomed to failure due to the reasons mentioned above. But it is about being ahead of the curve.
Right now, the production of green steel is low. But, anyone studying current trends can see it is only going in one direction in line with Scope 1,2 and 3 emissions goals and because sustainability in the corporate sector is becoming more critical. Ten years ago, having a sustainability team in a company was a rarity – now it is becoming the norm, and you’re an outlier if you do not have one. As a result, there is no doubt that green steel will become a commodity in high demand. Sweden is ahead of the curve in this area, with several green steel initiatives and projects.
Looking at how the UK became a global offshore wind power leader could be an important lesson. Betting hard on an expensive energy technology that few took seriously, the UK took the market lead, set up infrastructure, supply chains, and so on, and is now reaping the benefits, with other left-behind countries wanting to get in on the game.
The brightest minds in the energy space in the UK, including futurists, scientists, and strategists, could, together with key government decision-makers, establish a working group to predict and analyse the future clean energy trends and the direction of travel. For instance, what could certain sector aspects look like in ten years? Could the UK manufacture solar PV? There’s a lot of positive buzz around materials that could rival silicone, such as perovskite. The working group could analyse how the UK could get ahead of other countries in catalysing it. Similarly, on the back of all the concerns regarding lithium-ion batteries to do with scarcity, recycling challenges and human rights issues around the mining of the required materials, many studies are looking for the right combination of materials that could replace it; how could the UK get in on that?
The list could go on. We could list a lot of promising technologies, and there’s no lack of ideas in the innovation space. For instance, technologies that have been talked about for decades, such as wave and tidal energy and sustainable biofuels such as algae – do they deserve backing? Could they become a major clean energy source like solar and wind, or would they merely be a distraction?
Of course, this is not an easy challenge, and most of these ideas and innovations will not succeed; that is just the reality of the innovative space. So, the challenge for the UK government and companies, of course, is how to find the right horses to bet on. In a highly selective working group, getting the right combination of experts could be a valuable stepping stone.
While progress has been made in upskilling people and, for instance, helping workers transition from the offshore oil and gas sector, there is undoubtedly more progress that could be made.
It could be wise to think more holistically and wider than just the service industry, project management, and engineering jobs. It would be a mistake not to rapidly scale up manufacturing, realistically look at supply chains, and consider how much of that could be set up in the UK.
What is the UK government doing?
The UK government may be already doing a lot of these things.
When Ed Miliband started to assemble his team in the summer, a deeper level of strategy and thinking went into it.
The Energy Secretary headhunted Chris Stark, who had led the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), the government’s independent climate advisory body, to lead the government’s clean energy Mission Control. Stark is tasked with exploring all areas and opportunities to deliver on the government’s ambitious 2030 clean energy target. He will have a top team of energy experts to break down barriers and accelerate progress on energy projects.
What will it take?
But even the most extensive clean energy revolution would not necessarily make the UK a clean energy superpower. Compared to China, Russia, India and the US – the UK is a relatively small country. So, internal clean energy dominance will not be enough; it must also become a significant clean energy exporter. This does not mean exporting energy via interconnectors, but exporting models, plans, and technologies. If, for instance, the UK established a system that was significantly ahead of the curve in terms of what other countries were doing and countries wanted to adopt that model, that would showcase genuine clean energy leadership – additionally, having a major clean energy player such as Denmark’s Vestas or Orsted, Spain’s Iberdrola, Germany’s Siemens Energy or the joint venture between Spain’s Gamesa and Siemens to establish Siemens Gamesa.
Conclusion
As UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived for the UN climate talks, COP29, and declared that the UK would lead the world in a pro-growth clean energy strategy, was he fully aware of what it would mean to take on such a challenge rather than just throwing it around as a popular buzzword?
With a supercharged strategy, the UK could achieve a stronger leadership position than is currently the case. But as we have explored in this analysis, it comes down to more than just adding new clean energy capacity. It is about rewiring infrastructure, delivering world-beating innovation and dynamic thinking, being ahead of the curve, creating clean energy jobs like never seen before, and exporting clean energy ideas, visions, models, and technologies.
Only time will tell if the UK can rise to such a challenge, and Hoggett will need to be patient before his question can be fully answered.
Danish-born Anders Lorenzen is a freelance writer and the founder of Greener Life, a greener world. A contributor to FON, Anders considers global and UK trends that signal the UK’s energy transition pathway.
With a strong passion for action on climate change and the green energy transition, Anders has contributed to various outlets on the topics of lifestyle, politics, climate change, energy and broad environmental as well as sustainability issues. He is a keen runner and lives in London with his partner and daughter.
Image credit: Anders Lorenzen
