The UK Government’s
Industrial Strategy, which has set out action to reduce the UK’s punitive electricity prices for business, has been welcomed, but concerns remain that electricity grid resilience has not been addressed.
A new British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme will cut costs by up to £40 per MW/hr from 2027, benefitting around 7,000 manufacturing firms by granting them exemptions from charges that support ‘green’ energy and back-up power supply systems. In addition, the new British Industry Supercharger Scheme, contains measures to speed up the time it takes to connect new electricity substations, required by new factories and projects, to the energy grid.
David Bean, solutions group manager at
Mitsubishi Electric Automation Systems Division, said: “This is good news for business both in terms of competitiveness and grid connections, but we remain concerned that grid resilience, one of the most important issues for business, has not been addressed.
“All the conversations we are having with business are that grid resilience is as big an issue as cost. The UK’s electricity network remains one of the most fragile in Europe. You only need to look at what happened recently in Spain and Portugal to see the impact on business as a result of a massive power outage, in terms of lost production. UK business needs the peace of mind of knowing that a similar situation cannot occur here.
“Action to speed up grid connections is long overdue and has been a brake on new commercial developments and economic activity. However, my hope is that business takes the electricity price bonus on offer from the UK Government and uses it to increase their own resilience by investing in behind-the-meter energy systems that offer users the opportunity to generate their own electricity, store it, use it and then sell the surplus back to the grid.”
He concluded: “This type of system is growing in popularity as businesses look to reduce their energy risk profile and develop an extra revenue stream from selling the surplus back to the grid.”