Great British Energy will find opportunities to develop technological sovereignty in the supply chain to encourage the concept of energy that it has been designed in the UK that supports the recently released industrial strategy.
That is what Rob Gilbert, director Supply Chain at GB Energy, told PV Tech Managing Editor Ben Willis to a discussion at the UK Solar Summit in London in London, yesterday (July 1).
Introduction to him, Willis said that we “see the organization take on a clear form”, and notes that one of the objectives of the state -owned company is to create local jobs and to strengthen the domestic supply chain for clean energy to ensure that as much as possible comes from the VK.
Gilbert explained: “From an economic point of view, it is a huge amount of sense in terms of our broader mission to help clean power for local communities and local power projects in the supply chain, so that we create the jobs, skills and career opportunities, but also the industrial basis for the future.”
As he noticed, the ‘mantra’ of the industrial strategy ‘was built in Great Britain’. Gilbert said there is a material opportunity for GB Energy to play a role in providing industrial benefit for the UK “because there are gaps in the supply chain where GBE is a chance to play a role in that bending point between the public and private sector; that role that we occupy uniquely”.
The government has effectively mobilized £ 1 billion for GB Energy to publish the support of British supply chains. “If we want to gain the benefit of the re -industry -possibility of the energy transition, we must find those opportunities in the supply chain where we can develop some technological sovereignty, what domicile -ip, and developed this energy in the British concept,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert, however, noted that “we will never reduce the complete dependence on global supply chains and that is certainly not the intention of what we are trying to do; we do not try to postpone people who invest in the UK.
“What we really want to do is look for opportunities and find where those inland, in the UK are supply chains and really help those innovation paths.”
GB Energy to work as ‘one ecosystem for public finances’
GB Energy does not try what Willis called a ‘foolish message’ to accept China in terms of crystalline silicon production or balance of system components.
Instead, Gilbert explained, the pursuit of the company is to work as “one ecosystem for public finances”.
“Although there are many public financial institutions, the experience of the market has been a while when it is a – -and -one relationship, and so you have to go to many different organizations to find financing to create the ultimate type of investment support that you need to really bring Supply Chains forward.
“GB Energy does not work as a single front door, but we really want to act as a convener – we want to bring the power of public financing to the supply chain.”
The company has already worked to make the process easier and more effective to access capital.
Gilbert said it will not only be a subsidy, the mechanism used in the first GB Energy project, where it supplied £ 200 million to finance Zonne -PV installation on the roofs of schools and hospitals.
It will also act as a stock investor in supply chain companies and be an active partner.
However, Gilbert said that determining how GB Energy will bring more capital and how it will use its positioning within the government to support the policy and the regulatory framework in evolving British companies “a fairly large task”.
It is only about six weeks since the company received Royal consent and GB Energy became a formal entity.
In terms of how the state -owned company will influence the energy policy of the UK, Gilbert said that there will be “a two -way stream”. He explained that GB Energy, with the energy secretary as his single shareholder, has a close relationship with the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnz).
“I think the chance we have on the market is that we can then bring that market information back in a very clear and trusted way to the department that hopefully helps to influence the direction of policy measures for the market,” Gilbert said. “We also have a job to help the market understand the policy and the regulatory frameworks that are postponed by the government.”
GB Energy’s investment in green skills
Gilbert said that the GB Energy team acknowledges the risk that it does not have enough installation programs on the market, but that this applies to many of the skills needed in the energy transition; The skills gap is not unique for solar energy.
“GB Energy must be very careful not to bite more than it can chew in this room, so it is still to be seen whether we play a direct role in skills.”
Instead, his opinion is that “if we invest in supply chains, if we create the demand in the market, if we work together proactively with companies, and then we bring some of the organizations in the government such as the Energy Construction Training Board together, hopefully creating opportunities for the acceleration of students”.
“More requirement to create good jobs will ultimately mean that more people are attracted to the energy transition for their career,” he added.
Success for the company, said Gilbert, the UK would see what domestic capacity in the solar-supply chain would get-IS that we think we have a huge opportunity to do “simply because of the volume of solar deployment planned in the next 5-15 years”.
“There is a risk, if we don’t make those investments now, that we will be too late to receive the benefit.
“Being able to really point out the domestic supply chain that we have built around the energy transition would be a success of GB energy, just as it would be worked out how that will be a sustainable, long -term industrial right to the UK”.
Building an ethical solar -supply chain
When asked by a public member how GB Energy can be involved in the Supply Chain, given the omnipresence of Chinese components, Gilbert said there are two fronts for involvement. In addition to investing in emerging technology and innovation, the other ethics is.
“The large British energy bill requires that we ensure that there are no unethical practices in our supply chain. I think we should work with all suppliers in view of the challenges in China, in Xinjiang, and with organizations such as the SSI [Solar Stewardship Initiative]To find ways to bring our voice and our influence to the conversation to support how we make those supply chains more effective and ethical for the UK, even if they are not in the UK. “
Involvement with the SSI is also one of the most important elements of the solar route map published on July 30, which includes a series of steps to establish the Solar Supply Chain of the UK.
