Adam Berman
Director of Policy and Advocacy at Energy UK
The shift to clean, electrified power is driving a transformative energy transition, reshaping efficiency, infrastructure and long-term prosperity.
The UK is in the midst of a new industrial revolution. The energy transition is having far-reaching consequences for the way homes and businesses use energy, and the new technologies that increasingly power our economy. We’re moving from a centralised fossil-fuel-driven system to a largely electrified economy powered by stable, secure and distributed clean power.
Electrification: renewal for society
While this change may have its roots in combating the rising emissions that continue to change the climate around us, it has become so much more.
Some infrastructure on our grid dates back to the 1920s, with the average age of an electrical transformer being 63. Modernising the energy system is crucial to deliver the transition’s benefits and boost efficiency across the country.
Electric vehicles use half the energy of internal combustion vehicles for the same distances, and heat pumps are an astonishing four to five times more efficient than a gas boiler. Electrified economies use 40% less energy than those reliant on more traditional fuels while reducing dependence on volatile energy imports.
Modernising the energy system is crucial to deliver the transition’s benefits and boost efficiency across the country.
Why is grid investment necessary?
Investment in our grid is long overdue and necessary with or without the clean energy transition. A more efficient electrified energy system will help stabilise the costs of this modernisation. Short-term flexibility could help reduce system costs by £30-£70 billion between 2020 and 2050, with flexible consumer use of power helping reduce the amount of distribution network investment required by 15%.
Less reliance on volatile international gas prices, lower costs of running the grid in the long term and a more flexible system able to deliver energy when we need it most — this is what our electrified economy should look like. With it will come thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs around the country, delivering prosperity straight to the heart of our communities.
