Nearly half of energy professionals view grid infrastructure and storage as the biggest barriers to achieving net zero, a Cornwall Insight survey has found.
The poll of 103 attendees at the CI Live conference reported that 48% see grid and storage as the top challenge, while 26% cited policy uncertainty and investment conditions, according to the organisers.
Consumer engagement and behavioural change accounted for 21% of responses, with workforce capacity at 5%, the survey added.
David Stevenson, lead analyst for renewable generation at Cornwall Insight, said: “What this survey shows is a growing frustration that the grid simply hasn’t been keeping pace with the energy transition.”
He added: “Reforms such as the creation of NESO and the shift to a First Ready, First Needed, First Connected’ approach are encouraging, yet they only tackle part of the problem.”
Speaking at the conference, Chris O’Shea, chief executive of Centrica, stated: “The clean energy transition cannot be slowed down by bloated bureaucracies.”
Sonia Brown, group head of strategy, innovation and market analytics at National Grid, said: “What we are investing is very much needed, because we can’t have clean power coming through without the investment in the wires that are going to take it from the offshore wind, through to the customers that want to be consuming it.”
Michael Shanks, energy minister at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (pictured), added: “We have ended the first come, first serve grid connections queue.”