Mareike Schmidt, Innovation Lead - Prospering from the Energy Revolution, Innovate UK
As the plans for the National Infrastructure Bank are announced, Mareike Schmidt, Innovation Lead, ‘Prospering from the Energy Revolution’ asks what do we need to do to encourage the growth of smarter, cleaner local energy systems across the UK?
The article explains how all actors in the energy system will need to work better together to mobilise private sector investment and to level up the UK’s economy. Mareike suggests six steps that will need to be put in place to move away from a purely grant-funded towards a more blended approach to funding and investment that allows for these projects to scale as quickly as possible. This includes strengthening the really important role of local authorities that convene partners at the local level to develop and deliver smart local energy systems. She argues that supporting local authorities with the appropriate technical assistance support is essential when developing an investable project pipeline for the National Infrastructure Bank in the longer term.
PFER have invested more than £100 million in the programme which include 3 Demonstrator projects (£38million), and more than 50 other projects developing designs, concepts, technologies and data approaches. This is supported by EnergyREV consortium and ERIS at the Energy Systems Catapult.
The aim of the PFER programme is to show that SLES can provide cleaner, cheaper energy services that people want whilst offering new opportunities for investment.
The full blog can be accessed here Smarter, cleaner local energy systems for a net zero future - Innovate UK (blog.gov.uk)