Environment
The Independence Paradox
DEFA has published its Energy Strategy for 2023 which looks at the move away from fossil fuel power.
Greater energy independence for the island will likely lead to greater reliance on the UK.
DEFA has published its Energy Strategy for 2023 which looks at a move away from fossil fuel power.
The overarching purpose of the energy strategy is to provide a framework within which policies can be developed, allowing the island to achieve its aims.
These aims include hitting net zero targets, ensuring people and businesses benefit from decarbonisation, making greater use of our energy resources, maintaining the existing resilience in the power system and to increase energy independence.
The gov has given its back to deploying 30MW of onshore renewable power by 2026, with a decarbonised power sector by 2030.
While there is an initial investment in the renewable energy that taxpayers are forking out for, over the long-term, there is almost universal agreement that they will deliver cheaper bills for islanders.
However, ensuring a secure and regular supply does remain a lingering question, which DEFA admits will be reliant on our relationship with the UK, thereby creating independence dependence.
The report said: ‘Our links with the UK do bring important benefits that must be recognised when considering this issue in the round. For example, whilst more challenging in the future, as described elsewhere in this document, our connection with the UK offers a revenue generation mechanism that can partly offset the cost of investment in net zero.
‘Most importantly, interconnection provides guarantees of security of supply and also allows us to access the grid stabilisation services provided by the GB grid. This in turn strengthens our ability to add renewables onto our network and potentially at a lower cost than would be the case through purely on-island solutions.
‘Paradoxically, therefore, energy independence driven by renewables is facilitated by interconnectedness with the UK and to a degree arguably reliant on it, through the security of supply benefits that it provides. Energy independence is not an absolute position, with ever increasing degrees along a simple sliding scale. Rather, it is an issue of complex interrelationships that we must always be cognisant of.’
The full report can be found here.
