The view from COP28: No Transition without Transmission

A blog by Rob McDonald, SSEN Transmission Managing Director 

This week saw the first week of COP28 kick off in Dubai, and I was very pleased to be representing SSE’s Networks businesses, SSEN Transmission and SSEN Distribution, at this globally significant gathering. 

I have attended many different events this week - from panel discussions to round tables, presentations to several bi-laterals. In thinking about how I would summarise those meetings I was reminded of a (once) famous phrase – “if you keep an old tie long enough, it will come back into fashion.” 

I’m not sure that is in fact true of ties anymore, but it is true of electricity networks seemingly. From all these events I’ve been to, one thing is clear – grids are front and centre in tackling climate change. I am not sure that was true even at last year’s COP, where we were somewhat of an afterthought I felt. Well not now – grids are back in fashion. 

I have heard from renewable developers, equipment manufacturers, politicians, consumer groups, civil servants, think tanks, trade associations and network companies themselves from all over the world this week. The message has been consistent – “There will be no Transition without Transmission”. The simple fact is that the transition to a low carbon economy cannot happen without a revolution in electricity grids. And the scale of the challenge is enormous. In the UK alone, we are going to have to build four times as much grid infrastructure in the next six years than we have built in the last 30 years. 

Does the supply chain have the capacity to achieve this? Will we get the planning and consents? How can this be financed? How can we get the people and skills to deliver this level of growth? Can the grid cope with this level of flexible generation? How do we bring communities and customers with us? 

Do those questions sound familiar…? These are questions we have been asking of ourselves in Transmission as we seek to deliver our ambitious business plan. But here’s the thing – they have been raised at every meeting I have been at during COP from countries and companies all around the world. Everyone is facing the same issues. None of this is unique to us. And I think this provides an excellent opportunity for us to learn from the experience of others in a global context.  

We don’t have all of the answers. So, I’ve picked up loads of interesting ideas from other countries and other companies. That is one key takeaway for me from this week - learning from other countries is something we have been encouraging recently. The whole world is facing the same challenges we are. 

But as I listened and participated in the various discussions, I was also struck by the extent to which we as a company are leading on a number of these questions. Other companies, across the globe are very interested in learning about what we are doing because they see it as leading edge. For example, I was asked several times about the long-term certainty the Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment (ASTI) plan gives and how we achieved that. I was also asked about how we secured funding for environmental initiatives like exploring innovative SF6-free technology and committing to biodiversity net gain. The point is this – COP has shown me that our network companies are not only leading the UK towards net zero but are doing things that in some areas are world-leading.    

We know that one-sixth of the UK economy’s entire carbon reduction needs to come from renewables connected to our transmission network in the north of Scotland. That’s a massive contribution. While I knew that this was important in a UK context - this week has made me realise that we are part of an even bigger global transformation of networks to enable the transition to a global low-carbon economy.  

We need to stay grounded, curious and humble, but I think everyone who works in the network businesses should be very proud of our contribution to achieving net zero in both that UK and international context. 

It’s been a privilege to represent the SSE Networks businesses and the wider SSE Group at COP28 this week and it has made me even more determined to deliver our Network for Net Zero. What an exciting time to be a part of the energy transition.