‘Electric revolution’ to put power in the hands of businesses and individuals

Will Gardiner, chief executive of Drax

Drax chief executive Will Gardiner is to set out his vision of an “electric revolution” built around individuals and businesses that produce, as well as consume, power.

In his first major speech since moving from chief financial officer to chief executive in January, Gardiner will tell the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference that the electric revolution “will not be driven solely by large-scale power generators, but by individuals, businesses and institutions that not only consume electricity, but produce it too”.

Drax has undergone “a transformation that is unprecedented for a company so critical to the UK’s infrastructure,” Gardiner will say, highlighting the fact that the business has gone from “being the UK’s largest polluter to the largest single site renewable power generator in the country”.

He believes that there is “an electric revolution” about to begin that will range from electric vehicles to AI-led devices connected and communicating across the grid.

This will lead to the emergence of a new group of “prosumers” – people, and businesses, that produce electricity as well as consume it.

“Spurred by falling costs that will make technologies like rooftop solar panels and domestic battery storage more affordable, prosumers will change the dynamic between energy suppliers and energy users for good,” he will say.

“Prosumers want a reliable and flexible self-supply of energy – and to call upon a mix of renewable technologies, just as the national system does.

“They want – and will have – the capacity to generate their own energy via a mix of solar, wind and biomass and then, crucially, sell back their excess electricity to an energy supplier.”

He acknowledges that “perhaps the biggest barrier to large-scale adoption of prosumerism is technology”, with advances in battery technology required to enable energy to be stored more efficiently and at scale.

Drax is planning to develop two giant 100 megawatt batteries at its site in Selby, which lays claim to being the largest batteries of their kind anywhere in the world.

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