We talked to attendees at the Energy UK annual conference where energy experts and minsters addressed the challenges facing the energy industry.
Chris Lock, Senior Communications Manager at Elexon said: ‘We’re at the cusp of wanting to make significant progress to meet challenging targets that will contribute towards net zero.’
Several delegates said they look forward to changes in energy policy in the coming year, especially given the coming general election.
Juliette Sanders, Director of Communications at Energy UK said: ‘I think the next year will be interesting because obviously we’re in the run up to a general elections.
‘So I think what our aim is to try and make sure that energy doesn’t fall off the political agenda and that we can still get on with all the things that we need to be getting on with to reach our targets.
‘If you actually think about the amount of work that needs to be done just by 2030, we can’t really afford to be wasting a year.
‘So there are certain areas that we need, to keep going on and one of those is around investment and making sure that global companies know the UK is a great place to invest.
‘One of them is around affordability, so making sure heading into winter, that customers can afford their energy bills and they know where to get their support if they can’t.
‘And then there’s the kind of nuts and bolts of it, like the grid and the system and how do we make sure that it all fits together and those three things must remain top of priority.’
Many stressed on the importance of investment in technology.
Michael Jary, Managing Director at Sense said: ‘By next year’s conference, we would like to see an environment, a regulatory and policy making environment, that really makes the most of the potential of innovation and technology to reconcile the need for accelerated energy transition and the need for affordability for clients.
‘And an environment which really unlocks the potential of artificial intelligence, machine learning and some of the next generation technologies that we’re seeing.’
