Taking place at Housing 2023, the inaugural Unlock Net Zero Live Awards will seek to recognise and champion progress on the journey to decarbonisation for the UK housing sector and the supply chain that supports it.
There are 12 Awards categories that recognise the achievements of the housing sector and its supply chain across both new build and retrofit projects.
Leading the Charge has been shortlisted for ‘Collaboration of the year – energy projects’, and winners will be announced at the awards ceremony, taking place alongside Housing 2023 on Tuesday 27 June at Manchester Central.
Further information on the Unlock Net Zero Live Awards is available here
Ensuring safety considerations are maintained during this period of rapid transformation towards net zero is the topic for this week’s Leading the Charge podcast.
Join Electrical Safety First CEO Lesley Rudd and ECA Technical Director Mike Smith.
This Episode is hosted by multi award-winning broadcaster and journalist Rob Smith, and sponsored by Megger and the Luceco Group.
ECAtoday – a print and digital publication from ECA, read by key audiences which include large and SME contractors, consultants, specifiers, engineers and electricians, along with other policy and decision makers.
Electrical Wholesaler – an electrical trade title that is exclusively dedicated to the wholesale and bulk-buying sector of the electrical market.
Designing Buildings – is the construction wiki; an industry-wide, cross-discipline forum for finding and sharing knowledge about the planning, design, construction and operation of built assets.
Electrical Review – the longest established UK electrical journal, aimed at electrical engineers, project managers, consultants and electrical contractors, essentially any key personnel specifying electrical systems in public/commercial buildings and industry.
In case you missed it, Jane Dawson, Head of Communications & Public Affairs at ECA, wrote a feature for ECAtoday ahead of the launch of the series. She touched on the opportunities and challenges for the electrical sector as we make the switch to net zero – which are covered in-depth through the series content.
Look out for the November issue of ECAtoday – the series is the cover story in this issue, and dedicates a full page to each of the series’ partners, telling their stories of Leading the Charge.
Partners, contributors and supporters of the series have also been talking about their involvement in the series through news, blog and social coverage, including; Luceco, RDM Electrical and Mechanical Services, EFT Consult, JTL, ABC, and Rob Smith (multi award-winning broadcaster and journalist, and host of the series podcasts and launch event).
Keep up to speed with series content on social media by following #LeadingtheCharge and on ECA’s social channels, including the Leading the Charge podcasts which will be released over the coming weeks.
The first podcast is available now available; join guests Mike Pitts from Innovate UK and Steve Bratt, ECA CEO, as they discuss the opportunities of the UK’s transition to net zero for the electrotechnical sector.
Join guests Mike Pitts from Innovate UK and ECA CEO Steve Bratt as they discuss the opportunities the UK’s transition to net zero is offering the electrotechnical sector.
This episode is hosted by multi award-winning broadcaster and journalist Rob Smith, and sponsored by the Electrical Contractors Association.
This episode is hosted by multi award-winning broadcaster and journalist Rob Smith, and sponsored by National Grid.
ECA digital series showcases stories and solutions spearheading the electric transformation
On Tuesday 13th September, the Royal Society hosted the launch of ‘Leading the Charge’.
A premier screening of series highlights was shown to industry delegates followed by a panel discussion and Q&A chaired by multi award-winning broadcaster and journalist Rob Smith, and featuring Steve Bratt, Group CEO of ECA, Ruth Devine, Chair of TESP, and Pete Robinson, Project Manager of Robinson and Lawlor.
Attendees included ECA executives, contributing organisations, sector thought leaders, and members of the wider electrotechnical community.
The suite of series content, including interviews, short films, articles and a documentary, is now available, telling the stories of organisations and professionals from across the electrotechnical ecosystem, who are powering the transition to net zero.
The digital series champions electrotechnical professionals creating a cleaner world, decarbonising the UK energy network, electrifying heat and transport, developing smart buildings and improving energy efficiency. It celebrates the work of electrotechnical installers who are crucial in driving the transition; highlighting opportunities across EV infrastructure, smart grids, and renewable energy, among other new technologies.
Leading the Charge explores progress in areas such as renewables, energy storage, retrofitting, automation, electrical safety, policy and training, and provides a platform for the exchange of ideas and best practice, while raising awareness and inspiring the next generation.
Ensuring our homes and buildings are net zero by 2050 provides great opportunity for the construction and energy sectors.
As part of the ‘Leading the Charge’ digital series, Jade Lewis, CEO of the Sustainable Energy Association, explains the challenges facing these sectors in the journey to net zero, and how a holistic approach across industries could be the solution.
Q: What progress has been made so far to make sure our homes and workplaces are more sustainable?
JL: We need to make sure that homes and buildings are fit for the future. That means they are energy efficient, net zero carbon, and warm and healthy.
Over the last two years we’ve been inundated with policy and have no clear long-term signal of where we need to go.
Ideally what we need now is joined up policy to allow the industry to gear up and deliver collaborative and innovative solutions and delivery models to help us achieve net zero by 2050.
Q:A big task will be making older properties, especially from the Victorian and Georgian eras, energy efficient. How are we going to do that?
JL: Absolutely. In the past we’ve tried to simplify this by coming up with one measure to fix everything. It used to be insulation, then more recently solar thermal PV, then heat pumps. Every building is different, and every occupant has different requirements, so I believe the solution is going to be a mixture of different technologies and solutions. It should always be a fabric first approach, we need to make sure that our buildings aren’t leaking out energy. This means we’re going to need insulation, draught proofing, energy efficient glazing, and a whole range of measures to fix the fabric.
Then we need to look at heating sources, make sure that we have low carbon heating systems in place, so we are decarbonising for the future. Then we need to look at things like health and wellbeing of the occupants, and adaptation to climate change.
In practice, we need a mix of measures tailored to the particular building, and its occupants, to give us the right outcomes. If we understand that this is the solution, and stop trying to pick one horse, we’re going to need a host of measures to come together so that the industry can deliver.
Q: How does the electrical industry prepare for these future changes?
JL: We know that government policy can change depending on the Government and Prime Minister in charge, so businesses are sometimes better off looking at industry trends, rather than changing to government policy.
Industry trends are things like net zero, pushing for more digitalisation, and more modern methods of construction. These can all increase productivity in the sector, drive innovation, and address things like an ageing workforce.
These trends that are going to happen anyway, and this is where there is a huge opportunity for the electrical sector, but it’s also a risk if businesses don’t change. There is a lot of help and support out there, particularly funding for SMEs to gear up and get ready for that agenda. If they look to the trends to change their business model, despite government policy, then they shouldn’t go wrong.
Q: So, they’ve got to do the work?
JL: If they don’t want to be caught out by changes in government policy, then that is a better option. Things like net zero aren’t going to go away. We’re going to need to address overheating, we’re going to need to address flooding, issues with buildings and adaptation to climate change. The need is there despite government policy, so if a business gears up around those trends, they’re going to be fit for the future.
We don’t really know what the energy solution is going to look like for 2050. This is why organisations like the Committee on Climate Change are saying that we’re going to need a mix of technologies. Companies need to be flexible and adaptable to those changes, but it is a huge opportunity for the electrical sector.
From electric vehicles and heat pumps to solar panels and wind farms, all the innovative technologies that are driving the UK towards achieving net zero, need one important thing – more qualified electricians.
One sunny morning in Belper, Derbyshire, electricians from MA Broughton arrive on a new housing development by Wheeldon Brothers. With every house here having solar PV and EV charging points installed, it’s a glimpse of what the average home in the country will look like in the near future.
“Net zero for the electrical industry is fantastic,” says Clint Cottee, Contract Director for MA Broughton. “There’s a lot more to the property and everyone’s thinking out of the box now. It’s not just we’re going to wire a property. It’s what can we do to save energy going forward?”
At the heart of the transition to Net Zero is the electrification of the UK’s energy infrastructure. How energy is produced, transport, business operations, home heating; they all need to be converted to electricity and the task of doing that falls to electricians.
Yet the surge in demand for all things electrical, whether it be solar panels, EV charging points, or battery installation, has revealed a gap in the country’s electrotechnical workforce. We do not currently have enough electricians to meet demand.
Between 2019 to 2020, just over 6,700 apprentices were taken into the industry, according to TESP.
“That really needs to go up to 12 or 13,000,” says Andrew Eldred, the ECA’s director of Workforce and Public Affairs. “Just to respond to the loss of people through retirement and leaving the industry and also that increase in demand from new technology.”
It’s easy to see the appeal for a career in the electrotechnical industry. The sector is expanding rapidly, with a 17% increase in turnover between 2015 and 2020 (TESP ‘21).
“Part of the appeal has always been earnings. A qualified, competent electrician can easily earn £40,000 a year or more. They’re also excellent career progression prospects and so if you don’t want to remain as an electrician, you can progress into engineering, design, management, commercial disciplines as well,” according to Eldred.
Part of the problem is the lack of job opportunities for aspiring electricians.
“The demand is there,” states Ruth Devine, Director of SDJ Electrical and Chair of TESP. “There’s not enough places for apprentices. So typically, they may go into full time college and roughly only 40% within convert into roles in the sector.”
Apprentices are not a burden to a company. Far from it. They are the next generation of workers that ensure the continuation and growth of a company.
“As a business you can only survive and prosper if you’ve got access to those people and those skills,” argues Eldred. “Companies that simply rely on taking people who’ve been trained by other people do not have a sustainable, long-term future. If you train, you will lose some of those people, but you also hang onto some and they will be the future basis for your growth and prosperity.”
Back in the MA Broughton yard, Clint explains to a young apprentice what he will be doing on the Belper site. For Clint and the company, apprentices are a core part of their workforce.
“We want young minds to come to the industry of electrical technical because we need these people to drive it forward. We need this new generation of young minds to help us get a grip of this. And it’s only this generation that’s going to do it.”
With so many exciting new technologies that can help cut carbon emissions, the next step is ensuring they can all work in sync. Trialling combinations of low carbon technologies is essential for their roll out across the UK’s built environment.
On the windswept Welsh coastline is the UK’s only university with its own private beach. Swansea University is currently developing an innovative new campus 3km east of Swansea city centre. Called Bay Campus, it is trialling a variety of new energy efficiency technologies that aim to help the built environment industry reach its net zero goals.
“We’re aiming to create a kind of blueprint for other similar sites to take on a similar approach to energy systems in buildings,” says Mathilde Castagnet, Head of Programmes at the Active Building Centre, the main funder of the project.
The research and development project was commissioned by a specialist arm of the University called SPECIFIC, whose aim it is to pull together industry and academia to develop products that are scalable within the real world and help reduce carbon emissions in the built environment. SPECIFIC partnered with electrical firm RDM and their sustainable design consultancy sibling company EFT Consult to install the technology. At the heart of the project is a microgrid control system by Schneider that coordinates energy flow between a 135kw solar PV installation, a solar powered car port using an innovative new perovskite technology from Oxford PV, and vehicle to grid technology.
“The job of microgrid controller is to coordinate the most efficient way of using the energy and where to use it from,” says Chris Phillips, RDM’s site manager. “It will take the tariff information, future weather and everything else that it is collecting and use the energy from the most efficient place at that time.”
This smart grid system is part of a technological revolution underway in response to net zero. Innovations in solar PV, EV car charging, and batteries mean that these technologies are more accessible than ever before. Coupled with the energy crisis gripping much of Europe, demand for low carbon technology is at an all-time high, and electricians are rushing to install it.
“We carried out a survey in April 2022 and we found that already 72% of UK members were installing one net zero technology or another or several,” says Andrew Eldred, the ECA’s director of Workforce and Public Affairs. “The opportunity for electricians and for the firms who employ electricians are vast because we do have this very broad skill set.”
It’s not a demand that is likely to diminish. With the UK government targeting net zero by 2050, there is a mass electrification that needs to happen.
“Any companies that are considering investing in training and technology, I’d say go for it,” recommends Chris Jenkins, director of EFT Consult. “It’s something that’s not going to go away. It’s something that’s only going to grow. And therefore, make that commitment. And I believe that it’ll pay off.”
Targeting the UK power system to achieve net zero by 2035, the Government published a landmark Net Zero Strategy in the lead up to the COP26 climate change conference, held in Glasgow. The strategy places green energy as a core requirement for the UK to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Electrotechnical engineers are remarkably well placed to help deliver a net zero carbon UK by 2050, with the ECA supporting its members and the wider electrotechnical sector to turn the Government’s words into action.
While there are new opportunities being presented by the proposed investment and support for clean electricity, there are new challenges too. Ensuring safety regulations evolve during this period of rapid transformation is something the ECA is focussed on.
Mike Smith, Technical Director for the ECA, explains the impact that net zero targets are having on safety considerations for the electrotechnical sector, and how the ECA can help.
Q:How are the Government’s net zero targets impacting safety considerations for the electrotechnical sector?
MS: Whilst the government has set a target for net zero by 2050, there are supplementary targets for 2030 and 2035, reducing carbon against 1990 emissions to 68% and then 78%. So that provides a real challenge for us in the short term, certainly coming out of recession.
We have material issues in terms of supply labour issues and cost issues. The industry needs to react, but the economic environment makes that quite difficult for investment. In terms of safety itself, it’s about really getting the number of people required on the ground with the requisite and required training, skills and knowledge to provide those services safely.
Q:How do you see the safety policy framework itself changing and evolving over the next few years?
MS: There have been some significant changes in terms of safety. Furthermore, there are secondary legislation requirements that are in draft form which require the clients and duty holders to appoint competent people within construction. So that’s going to be an important future requirement that we all should meet.
Q:What does that mean in practical terms for your members?
MS: What we try and do is inform them of the technology changes, the products that are available and the standards that are coming through. We’re informing our members of legislation changes and the competence requirements, it allows them to think about the future, how many people they will need, and the training that’s required.
Q:How do you create the balance between this rapid transformation and the safety that you need to ensure for your professionals and your customers?
MS: What we need to do is create robust standards and regulation around the safety of net zero carbon, and also ensure that new entrants to the market comply with those. Where there is that demand, there’s always the temptation for others to come in and undercut or cut corners.
Q:What is the ECA doing to enable your members to hardwire safety into this transition to net zero?
MS: We need to have a multi-tiered approach to make sure that it’s systematically included in their thinking about net zero. We need that knowledge and understanding of the technology and products out there. We also need certification of those companies carrying out the works, through audits and UCAS accreditation. We need training that’s robust and can be done as quickly as possible, as safely as possible, and we also need enforcement and redress for the customers when things go wrong.
The challenge for us is how we do that as quickly as possible to meet those net zero targets. And that is a challenge for an industry that hasn’t brought enough people in to the trade over the last 5-10 years. The electrotechnical sector already has a skills shortage, but now needs to gear up for this new technology. It is a challenge, but it’s a challenge that we want to face head on.
We’ve created a new apprenticeship for domestic electricians, which incorporates net zero carbon, we’re providing the tools to get people in. But we need to attract new people. We need people that might normally choose to go to university, but decide instead to pick up a trade and contribute to environmental sustainability.
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