NATIONAL GRID has called for clarity from the UK government on its netzero ambitions so it can start to make long-term investment decisions to support the country's transition to a greener future.

Chief executive John Pettigrew yesterday told City A.M. that "transparency" was crucial for the decarbonisation of the grid, including clarity over supply chains, planning and its role in meeting both net zero pledges and the government's energy security targets.

He said: "We need transparency in terms of what work needs to be done. It is a huge ambitious target and a lot of investment is going to be needed over the next decade."

National Grid is looking to confirm long-term plans for the power lines, pipelines, storage facilities and interconnectors needed to meet a vast influx of renewable power over the coming decades.

The power networks operator yesterday pledged to invest £40bn in critical infrastructure over the next four years, raising its commitments from previous expectations of £30-35bn,

This includes £29bn targeted towards decarbonising energy networks across the country.

The commitment was featured in its freshly published half-year results, where National Grid posted soaring operating profits of £2.2bn for the six months of trading up to October - a sharp 50 per cent hike on the previous window.

There were no new updates to National Grid's winter outlook, with the likelihood of blackouts remaining a worst-case scenario.

Alongside investment pledges, Pettigrew argued there also needed to be changes to the country's planning system - with the desire to reduce the time it takes to develop renewable energy projects.

"The UK government has talked about halving the lifetime it takes for planning. That's going to be really important, if we're going to build infrastructure in a timely fashion," Pettigrew said.

Earlier this month, the National Grid boss warned it would need to build seven times as much infrastructure over the current decade as it has constructed in the past 32 years to meet the country's renewable energy goals.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper