Roundtable on “Enabling the Global Energy Transition”

(left upper corner and then clockwise): Ragnhild Katteland, Sarah Lockett, John Hill, Ulrik Stridbæk

By Sarah Lockett, Ragnhild Katteland, John Hill and Ulrik Stridbæk
September 21, 2020

The following is an edited discussion of a few core topics at a recent Nexans-hosted virtual roundtable on Enabling the Global Energy Transition. The session was moderated by former Sky News and BBC anchor and business reporter, Sarah Lockett.

Participants were:

• Ragnhild Katteland, CEO, Nexans Norway and EVP, Subsea and Land Systems Business Group;
• John Hill, Project Director, SSE (formerly Scottish and Southern Energy); and
• Ulrik Stridbæk, VP Group Regulatory Affairs, Ørsted, the Danish multinational power company.

G20 COVID Economic Recovery Packages and Boosting Clean Energy

Ragnhild Katteland:

We believe the green sector should be regarded as a core component of our economic recovery from our global pandemic, rather than act as a hindrance to growth. Let's use this and let all governments everywhere use this opportunity to really push this market to ensure that we are increasing and pushing forward towards greener energy.

The UK is definitely at the forefront, but other countries are catching up quickly. And I think for European countries like Poland, France and The Netherlands, for example, they've already issued green sovereign bonds. Their spending process is for specific environmental projects such as renewable energy or public transport. Norway is looking into direct funding of technology development for floating offshore wind farms as well to push the green movement.

Ulrik Stridbaek:

The path towards decarbonization and developing renewable energy infrastructure is a very sensible thing to do in the first place. It is a route that any country will have to take sooner or later. So, combining the two crises, the health crisis and the climate crisis, and taking that opportunity to start investing or intensify investing in renewable energy investments that will have to take place anyway. We cannot afford to not do that.

John Hill:

In the UK, it's part of a long-term program investment in renewables and regulatory change to allow significant investment, particularly in the electricity sector. Last year, the new auction ran over six gigawatts that was allocated for offshore wind. That means some 20 billion of investment is now actively happening. And next year, there will be another auction round with a similar amount. Within the electricity sector, the vast majority of funding is flowing towards renewables.

To continue reading the rest of this article, please read it in Issue 114 of the SubTel Forum Magazine on page 18 or on our archive site here.