Could Centrica Build An Alternative Grid For The UK?
Andy Burnham’s Speech In Liverpool Introduced The Great British Grid
This extract is what he said on energy and the grid.
One of the biggest barriers to growth in the UK is the cost of energy. British businesses and billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe.
Within 10 years, I want those costs to be in line with our neighbours.
This means reforming a broken energy market so it better serves the public interest.
We are already taking more control of our electricity prices with a massive expansion of home-grown renewables and nuclear. I have asked Miatta to speed up the breaking of the link between what we pay for power at home and the international gas market, to get bills down.
And we will be pragmatic in relation to the North Sea as we build a bridge to a clean energy future and face the climate crisis.
But it’s not just the price. The system needs to work better too. You would not believe how many businesses complain to me they can’t get going because they can’t get connected to the grid.
It pushes costs up. It drags growth down. And it holds Britain back. We won’t get the growth and inward investment we need if we don’t fix it.
So, for the first time, we will have a national energy plan and we will bring back local democratic control through a stronger role for mayors and local leaders.
But we must go further. Today I can announce our plan for Great British Grid. A new branch of Great British Energy. A publicly-owned company that will challenge the private sector operators.
But is Andy Burnham’s plan realisable?
The Great Grid Upgrade From Norwich To Tilbury
National Grid are aiming to replace the grid between Norwich and Tilbury to add extra capacity and the details of the project are on this web site.
This is a map of the route.
To ascertain the level of objections, I asked Google AI “Norwich to Tilbury grid objections” and received this reply.
Local councils, residents, and organizations object to National Grid’s Norwich to Tilbury Project primarily due to the visual and ecological damage of using 50-meter overhead pylons instead of offshore or underground alternatives.
Key Objections and Concerns
Overhead Pylons vs. Alternatives: Opposition to roughly 100 miles (159–183 km) of towering onshore overground lines. Objectors demand fully costed offshore high-voltage direct current (HVDC) or underground cabling options.
Environmental & Landscape Harm: Severe impact on protected and valued landscapes, including the Dedham Vale national landscape and Waveney Valley, alongside extensive tree loss and disruption to local wildlife habitats.
Heritage & Property Impacts: Damage to the settings of historic buildings and significant property or land devaluation, including negative impacts on planned developments like the Dunton Hills Garden Village in Brentwood.
Unrealistic Delivery Timeline: Concern that the targeted 2030/2031 completion deadline is overly ambitious, forcing rushed implementation without proper scrutiny of cumulative effects from multiple East Anglian energy projects.
Community Disruption: Strain on local highways, disruptive weekend and bank holiday working hours, agricultural disruption, and a lack of adequate community compensation or tangible social value.
The Nimbys don’t seem very keen on more and bigger overhead power lines.
Conclusion
I believe building a second set of power lines across the country will be very difficult, if not impossible.
The Investment Of Centrica And Others In innovative Energy Technology
I think we’ll see innovation from the likes of Centrica, Octopus, National Grid and others, as to how we get our energy delivered.
Centrica and others, who include the UK Government, have backed four British companies, that I’m sure will be used in the grid of 2030.
- Ceres have developed a fuel cell that runs on hydrogen, biomethane or natural gas. It was thought it would be used to power data centres, but it could be used to provide power anywhere there is a gas supply, like a big factory or a new housing estate.
- Heata was developed by British Gas Research and is part of a data centre, which sits in a domestic hot water tank and the waste heat gives you affordable hot water.
- Highview Power make liquid-air batteries up to 300 MW/3.2 GWh. Significantly, Andy Burnham performed the groundbreaking for a 50 MW/300 MWh battery in Manchester, when he was Mayor of Greater Manchester.
- HiiROC from Hull University have a way to make hydrogen that uses only a fifth of the electricity. Cemex are using HiiROC to make low-carbon cement at Rugby. I also think Jim Ratcliffe has plans for HiiROC, as he is an investor with Centrica and others.
Could Centrica build an innovative Great British Grid from their investments?
I don’t think so because of the problem I indicated earlier with Norwich to Tilbury of putting up more overhead cables.
But all of these four companies can provide support and enhancement to the existing grid.
- Ceres could be used to provide extra power, where it is needed, if there is a suitable gas supply.
- Heata could be used to give a large proportion of houses and flats affordable hot water.
- Highview Power could be used to provide energy storage where too much energy is being generated at times and needs to be stored for a number of hours.
- I believe that many large wind farms will be connected to the grid, with a Highview Power battery at the sub-station.
- I also believe that we could see Highview Power batteries installed offshore to smooth wind farm output.
- HiiROC could produce hydrogen when and where it is needed.
The big problem will be that the grid will get more complicated and will be more difficult to control.
In Centrica And Return Partner To Scale Battery Flexibility In Germany, I ask Google AI if Centrica are good at optimising batteries and received this reply.
Yes, Centrica is considered a strong and established player in grid battery (BESS) optimisation.
Centrica Energy leverages over 15 years of flexible asset trading experience and has actively optimised battery energy storage systems since 2018. They currently manage over 950 MW of grid-scale batteries on contract across the UK and Europe.
It may be difficult to manage all these assets, but it does appear that Centrica have the mathematicians and engineers, who are up to the task.
The Future Of Nuclear
Consider.
- The four nuclear stations at Hartlepool, Heysham 1, Heysham 2 and Torness are to be shut down by March 2030, which will lose approximately 5 GW of zero-carbon electricity.
- Hinckley Point C will deliver 3.2 GW from the early 2030s.
- Sizewell C will deliver 3.2 GW at some time in the future.
Can we rely on solar and wind power to power the UK?
It is not a question of can, but we have to.
But Centrica have made a bold move to link up with X-energy of the US to build a fleet of small modular reactors called an Xe-100.
- I wrote about the initial deal in Centrica And X-energy Agree To Deploy UK’s First Advanced Modular Reactors.
- In Hartlepool Nuclear Reactor Moves To UK Regulatory Assessment, I talk about how the first reactor will be built at Hartlepool.
- In Centrica, X-energy Advance Nuclear Plans As UK Regulators To Begin Design Review For Xe-100, I say more about the design and the parners in the Xe-100.
- In With Federal Funding Windfall, X-energy Advances Small Nuclear Reactor, I talk about US Federal funding for X-energy.
- In TRISO-X Completes Vertical Construction Of TX-1 Fuel Fabrication Facility, I describe how they are cracking on with the fuel facility in the US.
It certainly, seems to be a project that has started with a certain degree of momentum, which says to me, they have got the project management right.
But believe that these 80 MW Xe-100 reactors, if strategically placed around the country will keep us going as older nuclear and gas power stations are retired.
The Relationship Between Andy Burnham And Chris O’Shea
I wrote about this in Have Chris O’Shea And Andy Burnham Met?
I will assume its a good relationship, until proven otherwise.
Conclusion
I wonder whether in the end, the Great British Grid is a series of extensions to the current grid we have.
Have Chris O’Shea And Andy Burnham Met?
I feel that this is a sensible question to ask Google AI.
I received this answer.
Yes, Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea and Prime Minister Andy Burnham have met.
They most recently crossed paths at the September 2026 Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.
During the event, Chris O’Shea was part of a slimmed-down delegation of top British business executives who attended a private meeting where Andy Burnham took questions and delivered a frank address regarding the “cost of business” and his future economic strategy.
They have also met previously during Burnham’s tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
For instance, in April 2022, the banking group NatWest arranged a high-level meeting involving both Andy Burnham and Chris O’Shea to discuss green energy initiatives and policy incentives for sustainable housing.
It should also be noted, that Centrica, where Chris O’Shea is Chief Executive, have backed Highview Power’s 50 MW/300 MWh battery at Carrington in Greater Manchester. I wouldn’t be surprised that given the NatWest meetings, that Burnham and O’Shea met at Carrington at some point. In Andy Burnham and Highview Power, I investigated Burnham’s attitude to the Carrington battery and it appears to be positive.
I have just read this interview with Chris O’Shea in the Guardian.
Burnham and O’Shea have a lot of similarities in their lives.
- There is only a four years difference in their ages.
- Both are from Catholic families.
- Both may have had financial troubles in their families as children.
- Both went to good universities.
- Both are keen football supporters.
I can expect that on a lot of important issues, they are in agreement.
The Thoughts Of Chris O’Shea
This article on This Is Money is entitled Centrica boss has bold plans to back British energy projects – but will strategy pay off?.
The article is basically an interview with a reporter and gives O’Shea’s opinions on various topics.
Chris O’Shea is CEO of Centrica and his Wikipedia entry gives more details.
These are his thoughts.
On Investing In Sizewell C
This is a paragraph from the article.
‘Sizewell C will probably run for 100 years,’ O’Shea says. ‘The person who will take the last electron it produces has probably not been born. We are very happy to be the UK’s largest strategic investor.’
Note.
- The paragraph shows a bold attitude.
- I also lived near Sizewell, when Sizewell B was built and the general feeling locally was that the new nuclear station was good for the area.
- It has now been running for thirty years and should be good for another ten.
Both nuclear power stations at Sizewell have had a good safety record. Could this be in part, because of the heavy engineering tradition of the Leiston area?
On Investing In UK Energy Infrastructure
This is a paragraph from the article
‘I just thought: sustainable carbon-free electricity in a country that needs electricity – and we import 20 per cent of ours – why would we look to sell nuclear?’ Backing nuclear power is part of O’Shea’s wider strategy to invest in UK energy infrastructure.
The UK certainly needs investors in UK energy infrastructure.
On Government Support For Sizewell C
This is a paragraph from the article.
Centrica’s 500,000 shareholders include an army of private investors, many of whom came on board during the ‘Tell Sid’ privatisations of the 1980s and all of whom will be hoping he is right. What about the risks that deterred his predecessors? O’Shea argues he will achieve reliable returns thanks to a Government-backed financial model that enables the company to recover capital ploughed into Sizewell C and make a set return.
I have worked with some very innovative accountants and bankers in the past fifty years, including an ex-Chief Accountant of Vickers and usually if there’s a will, there’s a solution to the trickiest of financial problems.
On LNG
These are two paragraphs from the article.
Major moves include a £200 million stake in the LNG terminal at Isle of Grain in Kent.
The belief is that LNG, which produces significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions than other fossil fuels and is easier and cheaper to transport and store, will be a major source of energy for the UK in the coming years.
Note.
- Centrica are major suppliers of gas-powered Combined Heat and Power units were the carbon dioxide is captured and either used or sold profitably.
- In at least one case, a CHP unit is used to heat a large greenhouse and the carbon dioxide is fed to the plants.
- In another, a the gas-fired Redditch power station, the food-grade carbon dioxide is sold to the food and construction industries.
- Grain LNG Terminal can also export gas and is only a short sea crossing from gas-hungry Germany.
- According to this Centrica press release, Centrica will run low-carbon bunkering services from the Grain LNG Terminal.
I analyse the investment in Grain LNG Terminal in Investment in Grain LNG.
On Rough Gas Storage
These are three paragraphs from the article.
O’Shea remains hopeful for plans to develop the Rough gas storage facility in the North Sea, which he re-opened in 2022.
The idea is that Centrica will invest £2 billion to ‘create the biggest gas storage facility in the world’, along with up to 5,000 jobs.
It could be used to store hydrogen, touted as a major energy source of the future, provided the Government comes up with a supportive regulatory framework as it has for Sizewell.
The German AquaVentus project aims to bring at least 100 GW of green hydrogen to mainland Germany from the North Sea.
This map of the North Sea, which I downloaded from the Hydrogen Scotland web site, shows the co-operation between Hydrogen Scotland and AquaVentus
Note.
- The yellow AquaDuctus pipeline connected to the German coast near Wilhelmshaven.
- There appear to be two AquaDuctus sections ; AQD 1 and AQD 2.
- There are appear to be three proposed pipelines, which are shown in a dotted red, that connect the UK to AquaDuctus.
- The Northern proposed pipeline appears to connect to the St. Fergus gas terminal on the North-East tip of Scotland.
- The two Southern proposed pipelines appear to connect to the Easington gas terminal in East Yorkshire.
- Easington gas terminal is within easy reach of the massive gas stores, which are being converted to store hydrogen at Aldbrough and Rough.
- The blue areas are offshore wind farms.
- The blue area straddling the Southernmost proposed pipe line is the Dogger Bank wind farm, is the world’s largest offshore wind farm and could eventually total over 6 GW.
- RWE are developing 7.2 GW of wind farms between Dogger Bank and Norfolk in UK waters, which could generate hydrogen for AquaDuctus.
This cooperation seems to be getting the hydrogen Germany needs to its industry.
It should be noted, that Germany has no sizeable hydrogen stores, but the AquaVentus system gives them access to SSE’s Aldbrough and Centrica’s Rough hydrogen stores.
So will the two hydrogen stores be storing hydrogen for both the UK and Germany?
Storing hydrogen and selling it to the country with the highest need could be a nice little earner.
On X-energy
These are three paragraphs from the article.
He is also backing a £10 billion plan to build the UK’s first advanced modular reactors in a partnership with X-energy of the US.
The project is taking place in Hartlepool, in County Durham, where the existing nuclear power station is due to reach the end of its life in 2028.
As is the nature of these projects, it involves risks around technology, regulation and finance, though the potential rewards are significant. Among them is the prospect of 2,500 jobs in the town, where unemployment is high.
Note.
- This is another bold deal.
- I wrote in detail about this deal in Centrica And X-energy Agree To Deploy UK’s First Advanced Modular Reactors.
- Jobs are mentioned in the This is Money article for the second time.
I also think, if it works to replace the Hartlepool nuclear power station, then it can be used to replace other decommissioned nuclear power stations.
On Getting Your First Job
These are three paragraphs from the article.
His career got off to a slow start when he struggled to secure a training contract with an accountancy firm after leaving Glasgow University.
‘I had about 30, 40 rejection letters. I remember the stress of not having a job when everyone else did – you just feel different,’ he says.
He feels it is ‘a duty’ for bosses to try to give young people a start.
I very much agree with that. I would very much be a hypocrite, if I didn’t, as I was given good starts by two companies.
On Apprenticeships
This is a paragraph from the article.
‘We are committed to creating one new apprenticeship for every day of this decade,’ he points out, sounding genuinely proud.
I very much agree with that. My father only had a small printing business, but he was proud of the apprentices he’d trained.
On Innovation
Centrica have backed three innovative ideas.
- heata, which is a distributed data centre in your hot water tank, which uses the waste heat to give you hot water.
- HiiROC, which is an innovative way to generate affordable hydrogen efficiently.
- Highview Power, which stores energy as liquid air.
I’m surprised that backing innovations like these was not mentioned.
Conclusion
This article is very much a must read.
