A cleaner, smarter energy system requires a shared understanding of the interactions across all infrastructure – electricity, gas, heat, buildings, digital, water and transport – to ensure the lowest cost solutions for our citizens and businesses.
Our work on influencing and shaping our underlying energy networks in the West Midlands has been a core function of the group since its inception, as this is understood to be a core barrier to a just transition if not tailored to the needs of the place.
Conversely, significant investment continues to be made in the energy infrastructure of the region and by providing a means to co-ordinate and collaborate, this investment could be made to provide many additional benefits to the businesses and communities it serves.
Examples of how the Energy Infrastructure and Systems team look to influence the enabling functions of our current and future energy system include:
- Working with cross sector expertise in Innovation projects examining Smart Local Energy Systems and their potential impact in the West Midlands
- Collaborating with transport colleagues in TfWM and across our LA partners to develop strategies to compare and cross-fertilise transport, energy and spatial planning processes
- Helping to shape commercial energy programmes with partners in WMGC and Economy teams that recognise that investing in energy infrastructure can help businesses to improve energy resilience at a time of increasing energy market volatility; also developing our understanding of the value of flexibility in helping to secure finance options to remove market barriers.
- Looking to develop a strategic picture of the energy infrastructure requirements of the West Midlands by building the data foundations of Local Area Energy Planning and looking for innovative ways to ensure informed decision making across a range of investors in our region.
Over the last 4 years, Kate Ashworth, who leads on these aspects of Energy Capital’s work programme has delivered a range of nationally leading innovation projects that brings credibility and detail to national policy decisions on energy governance; and secured further funding to ensure Energy Capital can continue to take a leading role in this space.
A good example of the innovation project we have been involved in is captured by the Regional Energy System Operator (RESO) project. The project looked to explore the advantages of a new kind of energy system operating at a city scale and produced key learnings on how important local governance is to achieve a smart local energy system which is cost effective, provides resilience and achieves our net zero ambitions. We are now taking this forward with the development of frameworks for Local Area Energy Planning, embedded in a whole systems energy system design approach.