England (Commonwealth Union) _According to Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy, administrative delays are “disastrous” for green energy projects. The Octopus Energy chief executive claims that the technology that will lead mankind toward a sustainable future is currently in place, but that development is being impeded by strict regulations and aging infrastructure. He argues that learning from past is the key to finding a solution.
Jackson asked the audience at WIRED Impact earlier this November to picture a situation in which key personalities from the internet era like Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, were prohibited from engaging in experimentation. Significant consequences for the rate of development would have resulted, but “this is the reality for renewable energy now,” he claims. Jackson cited the challenges that British renewable energy projects confront as evidence of the severity of the issue. Due to the excessive red tape, connecting a new farm to the grid can take seven years even though building a wind energy plant only takes two to six months. Jackson calls this situation “disastrous”. “We’re discussing a revolution that will save our world, maybe more vital than the internet,” he claims. “However, the extensive central planning is preventing it.”
According to Jackson, part of the problem is that regulators do not comprehend the level of change necessary to accomplish climate objectives the UK has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. This indicates that people driving the development of renewable energy haven’t had the flexibility to consider all of their possibilities. It is evident that neither the infrastructure nor the governance of the UK electrical system is “broadly not suitable for purpose,” according to him. “All innovations that will alter energy must have access to the market.”
