Rob Gross, Imperial College
Based on the government’s goals for EMR, its success could be judged by how effectively the power sector is decarbonised by 2030, through the greater deployment of renewables, nuclear and CCS; as well as bringing in new entrants to the market. There are a range of conflicting goals in enabling this to happen, that includes the crowded UK energy policy landscape, policy change, conflicting ideologies and uncertainties. A key challenge will be securing the necessary investment for new infrastructure, including the amount of money needed, the timescale by which it is needed, the ability of the big six and other investors to provide new finance; as well as wider issues such as global supply chain constraints. New investors could include pension funds, insurance companies, banks and energy utilities/companies and they will need to create effective build consortia to allow projects to come forward and ultimately be refinanced. In the short term, EMR’s impact on investment may be marginal, but in the longer term it may be more positive. However, a fundamental issue remains that it is trying to address multiple objectives across a wide range of stakeholders. As such, a far reaching review of the investment position now and into the future is needed.
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