Matthew Aylott

The UK’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has named the eight energy and nature experts appointed to the Advisory Commission for Mission Control Board, tasked with accelerating the country’s mission for clean power by 2030 #uk #renewableenergy #greenenergy #netzero #2030

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Is the Energy from Waste sector really the 'dirtiest' form of power in the UK? We hear about the sector's thoughts, plus many more news stories in this week's EfW Net news bulletin. 👉 Read it here: https://lnkd.in/e7Pnty72

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Honoured to sponsor and speak at an insightful panel event in Parliament on greening the UK gas grid through biomethane. With Rachael Burford from the Evening Standard leading the discussion, we explored practical approaches to decarbonising gas usage and reducing harmful methane emissions. Future Biogas' Carbon Harvest project demonstrated how unsubsidised biomethane is already supporting industries in reaching Net Zero while providing a practical alternative to fossil fuels. It's clear that demand for gas will persist beyond 2050, as renewable electricity alone can't meet the needs of all industrial practices. We heard how AstraZeneca has reduced its gas usage, introducing biomethane to fulfil essential requirements for sterilisation and steam in the pharmaceutical sector. With methane having 80 times the warming impact of CO2, using biomethane derived from agricultural and food waste not only harnesses a valuable energy source but also helps reduce the climate impact of waste. Biomethane can play a key role in our clean energy transition, particularly in sectors where electrification isn’t feasible, like brick and glass manufacturing, in heating historic buildings such as Parliament and in hospitals requiring energy intensive processes for sterilisation. A smart, flexible, low carbon energy mix will need green gases like biomethane, hydrogen, and synthetic gases—not fossil fuels. This was a fascinating discussion about a technology and industry already making a positive impact on our economy and climate. Huge thanks to Philipp Lukas of Future Biogas, Howard Forster of Cadent Gas Limited , and Lord Rupert Redesdale for their insights into the role of biomethane on our journey to net zero. Let’s keep advancing green gas initiatives! #biomethane #cleanenergy #netzero

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📝 NEW REPORT: State of the Climate for the UK Energy Sector Professionals in weather, climate and energy can now benefit from a 16-month analysis of the key challenges and impacts that face the energy industry. Download the report at https://lnkd.in/eG2adBbg

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❌ Myth: Renewable energy projects have a negative impact on biodiversity. ✔️ Fact: UK renewable energy developers must adhere to stringent planning processes, including conducting biodiversity assessments and submitting nature plans, to safeguard local ecosystem habitats. This means that the coexistence of renewable projects and biodiversity is not only possible, but essential. But at NatPower UK, we're committing to at least double the biodiversity net gain targets mandated by law for all of our projects, striving to create value for the land and local communities 🐝 Discover more about how NatPower is championing a nature-positive and clean energy future: natpower.uk

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Great article in the Financial Times on heat pumps, and retrofitting "If the UK is to meet its climate targets, one in 10 homes will need to phase out their gas boiler by 2030. But only 250,000 have transitioned so far. It’s an admittedly complex journey, but worth it." #retrofitting #retrofit #London #heatpumps #housing https://lnkd.in/enm3j2gC

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Essential components of the Nation’s energy transformation that will now be driven forward by Net Zero Industry Wales 💚

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‼️‼️Please take some time to engage with the consultation - guidance for the industry NEEDS input from the industry to ensure that there is consensus and consistency on climate resilience in the built environment - link below! ‼️‼️

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Great Britain's Connections Reform Consultation As the NESO consultation on reforming the national grid connection process, which addresses critical delays threatening the UK’s Clean Power 2030 and net-zero targets, draws to a close today, here is a quick summary of my thoughts on this initiative. The consultation comes at a time when delays in grid connections are threatening the UK’s ability to meet its Clean Power 2030 and net-zero targets. As NESO director of connections reform Matthew Vickers outlined, the current “first come, first served” approach is outdated, designed for a simpler, fossil-based energy system. With over 550GW of generation, storage, and interconnection projects in the transmission queue—on top of 750GW across transmission and distribution networks—significant reform is urgently needed to accelerate grid connections and unlock the UK’s clean energy potential. NESO’s proposed “first ready, first connected” approach, prioritising readiness and strategic alignment, is a bold step toward improving efficiency. However, this reform must balance ambition with fairness to ensure that smaller, innovative, or community-led projects are not left behind. My key reflections from the consultation: ✅ Balancing Flexibility and Readiness: Readiness is vital, but criteria should accommodate innovative technologies like floating offshore wind or hydrogen-linked renewables, which may not fit standard models but offer long-term benefits. ✅ Supporting Developers and Managing Risk: Transparency in connection quotas, anonymised updates on competing projects, and early indications of connection dates would provide much-needed certainty for developers and investors. ✅ Encouraging Technology Diversity: Installation of energy storage systems (ESS) and utilising excess renewable capacity for green hydrogen production can reduce curtailment and strengthen grid resilience. ✅ Short-Term vs. Long-Term Goals: While a focus on 2035 aligns with complex, large-scale projects, smaller projects with immediate impacts should also be prioritised to meet short-term needs. ✅ Fair and Evolving Methodologies: Clear and consistent criteria must remain adaptable, ensuring emerging technologies and regional needs are considered as the energy landscape evolves. The consultation’s goal of reforming these outdated processes presents an incredible opportunity to boost energy security, accelerate the clean energy transition, and drive economic growth. However, success will depend on transparency, inclusivity, and proactive engagement with all stakeholders.

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A fascinating misstep, at least on the communication front, from the Science Based Targets initiative. As an SBTi founder, WWF says that offsets “cannot be a substitute for reducing emissions from company operations, products, and value chains”, and updated guidance "should also address the very real concerns regarding the poor track record of #CarbonOffsets in delivering real emissions reductions and driving market transformation”. What do you think?

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The Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS) is now on LinkedIn! 🎉 The #SCIS is a climate change capacity-building programme for local authorities in Scotland, combining a national digital platform and a support service co-designed by the delivery partners and local authorities from across the country. Our digital platform - ClimateView - will collate area-wide emissions data to create standardised emissions inventories across all 32 of Scotland's local authorities. It will also calculate and visualise the emissions reduction impact of particular projects and interventions taken by local authorities in delivering their own area-wide emissions reduction strategies. Through workshops, knowledge-sharing sessions and 1-2-1s, our tailored support service will help local authorities to build the skills, knowledge and influence to use this data to better plan, monitor and deliver #climateaction at the scale and pace required for achieving their #netzero targets. The SCIS is delivered by a partnership between Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, ClimateView and the Improvement Service. This partnership brings together expert climate knowledge, practitioner insights and a track record of successfully supporting local authorities to deliver high quality, efficient local services both in Scotland and across the world. Follow us here to stay up to date with the SCIS journey and share this page with any colleagues and contacts who might be interested! If you have questions about who we are and what we do, you can contact us at [email protected]. COSLA Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) Sustainable Scotland Network #climatechange #localgovernment #NetZero #collaboration #knowledgesharing #

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#GeneralElection24 #GeneralElection2024 We'll be responding to some of the #Planning policies in the manifestos from the major political parties. Today it was the Liberal Democrats 👇

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Scotland's Just Transition Commission joins the call for better energy justice for Scotland's communities. "The Just Transition Commission's recent report highlights the importance of empowering local communities to make the most of the opportunities from the energy transition - this message is at the heart of the work we have been doing with the Scottish Community Coalition on Energy (SCCE). "A number of the key messages in the report directly overlap with the SCCE's own calls to action, including capacity building for communities, scaling up opportunities for 100% community owned energy projects, reserving space on the grid for community energy and maximising community benefits and shared ownership opportunities. "Our shared vision is an opportunity and we look forward to working with the Just Transition Commission to bring about a Fair Energy Deal for Scottish communities", Zoe Holliday - CES' CEO. Report: https://lnkd.in/eXuQnij3 #communityenergy #communityownership #communityjustice #sharedownership

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The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) published its Public Attitudes Survey for Spring 2024 today. 💚 Promisingly over half of respondents (53%) said they knew a lot, or a fair amount, about Net Zero. The over 65s were more likely to say they knew a lot, or a fair amount, about Net Zero, whereas the under 45s knew the least. 🙉 However, almost one in ten people have never heard of Net Zero. Working in energy, it can be easy to assume that everyone knows about climate change and Net Zero, but this is demonstrably not the case. 🙈 And 18% of people said they're not very, or not at all, concerned about climate change, with the trend of concern falling over time since Autumn 2021. This is despite record high temperatures, heatwaves, irregular rainfall and extreme storms seen around the world. This is likely driven by more immediate concerns felt in a turbulent few years. 📗 DESNZ spotted a promising trend - a positive correlation between knowledge about Net Zero and concern about climate change. This suggests there's still a significant amount of education required to support awareness of, and concern about, the very real threat of climate change. https://lnkd.in/e8BTE7QX

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The UK government has committed nearly £22bn to carbon capture projects in Merseyside and Teesside. This aims not only to meet ambitious climate goals but also to create thousands of jobs and draw in significant private investment. While it's a promising step, some green campaigners argue it might prolong the lifespan of fossil fuels. Having been in the energy sector, I understand the mixed reactions. Carbon capture is indeed a vital tool for decarbonising industries that can't switch to clean energy overnight. What are your thoughts on balancing these technologies for a sustainable future? #ClimateChange #RenewableEnergy #CarbonCapture  https://lnkd.in/eFSTFYxG

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Earlier this month Low Carbon’s New Projects Director Ed Birkett sat down with Ed Porter for an episode of the Modo Energy Transmission podcast to discuss the current state of the grid connections process in Great Britain. In a wide-ranging discussion, the episode covers key topics including: - The recent decision by the government to grant development consent for our 500 MW Gate Burton Energy Park. - A look at the current grid connection process and what needs to change to speed up the delivery of projects. - Why connections reform is critical for Labour to meet its ambitious 2030 clean power target. - A look at the current Contracts for Difference auction process, and how changes here could allow a higher volume of projects get through the system. To watch the full episode, head to https://bit.ly/3MhQxBM   Low Carbon is on a mission. Together, we will power tomorrow. #GridConnection #ConnectionsReform #LowCarbon #ModoEnergy

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[Open access] The UK's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has launched consultations on a proposed "Clean Industry Bonus (CIB)" to upcoming Contract for Difference (CfD) schemes. The CIB process will be run as a competitive allocation for extra revenue support before the main CfD Allocation Round 7 (AR7) auction. Under this scheme, fixed and floating offshore wind developers could get extra support if they choose to invest in more sustainable supply chains. The CIB makes extra CfD funding available if a developer chooses to make investments above the minimum standard that meet the sustainability criteria. Read more for further criteria, list of eligible investments, etc: https://lnkd.in/eh4Xs7dv #offshorewind #energytransition

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💡 Our latest blog from Helen Stack (Regulatory Manager at Centrica) explores how grid delays are hindering decarbonisation, examining 3 major challenges: ⚠️ Large queue: Over 700GW of energy generation projects waiting to connect to the grid ⚠️ Lengthy build times: transmission infrastructure takes 12-14 years to build ⚠️ Local low-carbon connection issues Discover how these barriers are being tackled to accelerate our sustainable future 🌍 #EnergisingAGreenerFuture #ThisIsPositiveEnergy https://lnkd.in/eEGYdx7M

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