
State-backed entity GB Energy’s supply chain director Robert Gilbert has described solar power as playing a “critical role” in delivering clean power by 2030.
“We are one of a number of public entities that are all focussed on the goal of delivering clean power 2030 and solar is critical within that,” he said at the Clean Power Summits 2030 in London on Wednesday.
According to the solar roadmap released by government this week, the target for delivering 47 GW of solar capacity by 2030 from 18 GW today is a “real ambition”, he said.
The state-backed energy company made its first investment in deploying solar on the roofs of 400 schools and NHS hospital sites in March.
“We’re really pleased that that programme of work is already underway, already delivering value for those schools and hospitals,” he said.
“That is a good case study actually of why solar is so critical in the energy mix, so that for clean power 2030, it’s pace of deployment, the relative cost of deployment and the materiality of the benefits that it delivers.”
GB Energy has made a £200 million investment, which is expected to deliver up to 100 MW of capacity for schools, with the expectation of a lifetime of savings across the projects of nearly £400m, according to Gilbert.
“From an economical standpoint, it makes a huge amount of sense,” he said. “In terms of our broader mission, we are here to help deploy clean power in aid of local communities.”
Gilbert added that GB’s mission involves delivering local power projects into the supply chain to “create the jobs and skills and the career opportunities but also the industrial base for the future”.
GB Energy is “very keen” to explore opportunities to invest in solar power in the UK, Gilbert said.
“Solar is definitely a very key part of that,” he said. “We are very keen to explore opportunities in the solar supply chain for the UK.”
A report by Baringa that Gilbert previously worked on highlighted “constraints” in the energy transition, across the offshore and onshore wind and solar sectors.
“It found a fairly material set of constraints in certain parts of the energy transition, particularly in the networks and distribution in HVDC cabling,” he said.
Gilbert explained that these constraints impacted plants and, for example, switching over transformers for solar. Some of the barriers that were identified were around networks, planning and consenting.
“One of the reasons why we think there is material opportunity for GB to play a role across the energy transition and really hopefully deliver some of that industrial benefit for the UK, is because there are gaps in the supply chain,” he said.
He said there is an opportunity for GB Energy, as the UK’s first publicly owned energy business in 70 years, “to play a role in that inflection point between the public and private sector”.