By Judith Patten
More than 7000 people are expected at the annual All-Energy exhibition and
conference at the SEC in Glasgow on May 15 and 16, with up to 250
exhibitors and nearly 500 speakers.
The opening day will see First Minister Nicola Sturgeon deliver a keynote
address. Others in that first session to be opened by Glasgow’s Lord
Provost Eva Bolander are Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower, and Chris
Stark, CEO of the Committee on Climate Change, whose advice to the UK
Government and the devolved administrations on the UK’s long-term climate
change targets will be published on May 2. Next up will be the Leader of
Glasgow City Council Susan Aitken, looking at Glasgow’s aims and successes,
then Professor Karen Turner, director of the Centre for Energy Policy.
All-Energy, the UK’s largest renewable and low carbon energy exhibition and
conference, organised by Reed Exhibitions, has spent almost two decades
helping the UK to decarbonise its power supply. Now there’s a new show
alongside it – Dcarbonise, introduced to ensure that people who use energy
can access advice and technology to assist them in their plans to
decarbonise their buildings, businesses and homes.
Aligned to the Scottish Government’s Energy Efficient Scotland programme
and sponsored by the Scottish Government, Energy Saving Trust and Zero
Waste Scotland, Dcarbonise brings together the latest solutions and
know-how to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and addresses the
important role of low carbon heating technologies. Key attendees will
include domestic private sector landlords, non-domestic landlords and the
public sector, all focused on the minimum energy efficiency requirements
for privately rented properties coming into effect in Scotland on April 1,
2020.
Dcarbonise also provides expert conference and seminar content and support
to SMEs and corporate energy buyers on reducing energy consumption within
the industrial sector, plus the latest ultra-low emission vehicles and
infrastructure needed to meet Scotland’s low carbon transport transition
targets.
After the opening plenary session 12 conference streams and six show floor
seminar theatres burst into action – and that’s where the contents of The
Herald’s annual Renewables Report will be brought to life.
One topic on both agendas is offshore wind. Within these pages we look at
progress. So too will All-Energy. The topics of the opening two offshore
wind sessions at All-Energy are The Way Forward and The Supply Chain in
Action, gathering two exceptional panels of luminaries to look at the
recently published Sector Deal, the Whitmarsh supply chain review and the
all-important onward steps. Elsewhere the ever-popular All-Energy Meet the
Developer swings into action with projects including Neart na Gaoithe and
East Anglia THREE lined up to meet prospective suppliers on a one-to-one
basis.
This report asks the question of onshore wind – can it work in a
zero-subsidy market? All-Energy features three 90-minute sessions on
onshore wind. The first looks at repowering and life extension; the second
includes ScottishPower Renewables’ CEO Lindsay McQuade. All three consider
cost-effective ways of working to ensure onshore wind can indeed work in a
zero-subsidy market.
Biomass, biogas, biofuel and energy from waste all come under the spotlight
on May 15. So too, with sessions on energy systems and the energy
transition and the first of three grid sessions, does the role of the
utilities.
“What next for Scotland’s marine energy sector?” asks this report. Speakers
aim to answer that question with collaboration figuring heavily.
Collaboration: The Way Forward discusses the recently produced Marine
Energy Council’s report; then we move to Managed Global Collaboration; and
to technology moving the industry forward (wave and tidal technology
features prominently in the seminar theatre on day two).
May 15 also sees innovation – a strong programme courtesy of Innovate UK
and UK Research and Innovation; solar, community and local energy, energy
storage, finance and funding; decarbonising industry; CCS and CCUS; energy
efficiency and smart and sustainable cities; smart urban mobility solutions
and export all come under the spotlight. Export Day at All-Energy combines
a thought-provoking look towards Scotland in 2050: Clean Energy – Realising
Our Potential, Domestically and Internationally; and then practical help in
a Glasgow Chamber of Commerce workshop to encourage companies to take their
first steps to exporting, again with one-to-one advice.
Networking is key to All-Energy and Dcarbonise. The Civic Reception and
Giant Networking Evening will once again be held at the Glasgow Science
Centre.
Day two’s plenary session starts with an address by Paul Wheelhouse MSP,
Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, who will then visit
Dcarbonise, where there are two show floor seminar theatres running
throughout – one on energy efficiency, the other on low carbon heat – and
one-to-one advice from experts from the Energy Saving Trust, Home Energy
Scotland, Zero Waste Scotland and resource Efficient Scotland in the
central hub.
Meanwhile in the Lomond Auditorium the focus will be on something that is
covered in this report – hydrogen. The Thursday plenary session asks: “Why
might the hydrogen economy finally have its day?”. Dr Keith MacLean, who
worked with Carbon Connect on a series of reports on the Future of Gas,
will explore this idea, then under the expert eye of session chair, Matthew
Knight of Siemens, who will also join in the discussion with panellists
Joanna Coleman, Energy Transition Manager, Shell UK, and Angus McIntosh,
Director of Energy Futures, SGN.
Floating offshore wind; hydropower, including small-scale as covered within
these pages; the “net-zero challenge”; low carbon heat; low carbon
transport; the grid; LCITP; local energy; disruptive technology; corporate
PPAs and more on onshore wind, energy storage and the grid fill the day in
the main conference. And there are packed programmes in the six show floor
theatres where innovation runs like a golden thread throughout them; and
with the introduction of the ‘Research Hub’ can be seen from the very
earliest of stages through to fruition elsewhere in the show.
For online free registration visit www.all-energy.co.uk
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