As an industry, it’s clear we’re all unified behind a single common goal.

It’s been a pleasure to join peers from across the sector at the Energy UK conference today.

As an industry, it’s clear we’re all unified behind a single common goal – to decarbonise our energy system and play our part in lowering bills, increasing energy security, and delivering net zero for the UK.

We’ve come a long way as an industry, particularly in recent months.

Ten years ago, coal accounted for 43% of our energy mix in the UK. Last year it was just 1.5%. Today, a single rotation of the blades on a Dogger Bank wind turbine can produce enough clean energy to power an average British home for two days.

We’ve started to collectively address some of the really big questions for the future; from The Energy Bill, which is close to becoming law, to consultations on National Policy Statements, and of course, the welcome report from Nick Winser, the Electricity Networks Commissioner, which includes recommendations of fundamental planning reform and the creation of a Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.

But systems which were fit for purpose in the past, are not fit for a net zero future, and further, urgent change is needed, not least on connections.

The current unconstrained market with low barriers to entry, combined with the allocation of capacity on a first come first served basis, has resulted in a transmission connections pipeline which currently stands at more than 300GW in England and Wales – that’s almost three times as much new capacity as we actually need to achieve net zero by 2050.

The need for change and the scale of the challenge is clear and work has already begun. Our transmission business is changing how we coordinate with DNOs and how we treat storage, for example, and these changes, among others, will deliver an additional 40 GW of network capacity for projects that are ready to connect.

But more is needed and the forthcoming connections action plan from government and Ofgem represents a once in a generation opportunity to deliver the pace of development needed to achieve a decarbonised energy system.

We need to move from the first come, first served approach, to a connect or move model, which is applied to projects already in the queue, not just to new applications. Critically, network owners must be able to invest ahead of need to meet customer requirements, and we need to create a fast-track connection route for critical net zero projects.

We also need urgent action on planning reform. Refreshed National Policy Statements must be in place by the end of the year, and we need to move forward with an overarching Strategic Spatial Energy Plan.

For every consultation that is delayed, for every decision that is pushed back a few months, there are very real consequences for the delivery of our decarbonisation goals.

If we’re going to meet the aspirations and targets set by government, we have to be bolder and braver, not just in our thinking, but also in the pace of delivery. For me, we’re past the point of debate. We now need urgent decisions coming out of these consultations, and urgent progress.

Otherwise we’re at risk of not only missing our climate goals, but also the economic opportunity it can deliver for the country.

For me it’s clear, the opportunity ahead of us is huge. We’ve made significant progress, and have a clear understanding not just of the scale of the challenges ahead, but also of how to overcome them. So now is the time to be bold. Bold in our thinking, bold in the way we challenge each other, bold in our decision-making and, most of all, bold in our actions.