Regional powerhouse – working with local authorities

Greater Manchester is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and a magnet for global businesses and investors. Among the city’s ambitious objectives, it is targeting to reach net zero by 2038, some 12 years ahead of the rest of the UK, with major implications for infrastructure development across public transport, rail, roads, water, gas and power.

The city’s latest Five-Year Environment Plan, announced by Mayor Andy Burnham in December, includes measures to build 30,000 new affordable net zero homes, plus a fully-integrated carbon neutral public transport system powered by electricity.

SP ENW has made strategic investments in and around Greater Manchester within the current RIIO-ED2 price control, to increase network capacity, and investments will continue to ramp up over the next decade to support local energy production. This includes a plan to decarbonise heat within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) area and bring several new district heat networks powered by electricity online.

Rolling out electricity infrastructure within strict timeframes requires intricate advance planning and a close working relationship between GMCA, SP ENW and other stakeholders to ensure proper coordination.

To that end, a Strategic Infrastructure Board, convened by the GMCA and attended by SP ENW, helps foster collaboration between infrastructure companies and ensures they are aware of each other’s activities. Various members of the GMCA leadership team also sit on SP ENW stakeholder panels.

“Working with SP ENW as part of the Strategic Infrastructure Board, we use a planning framework for the next 15 to 20 years as a blueprint for the future investment cycle. Having that granular detail over what's going to come forward, when and where, enables SP ENW to reinforce the network and increase supply, ensuring that electrical distribution isn't a barrier to growth.”

Andrew McIntosh, director of place, GMCA

Andrew McIntosh, director of place at GMCA explains: “Working with SP ENW as part of the Strategic Infrastructure Board, we use a planning framework for the next 15 to 20 years as a blueprint for the future investment cycle. Having that granular detail over what's going to come forward, when and where, enables SP ENW to reinforce the network and increase supply, ensuring that electrical distribution isn't a barrier to growth.”

SP ENW and GMCA are also working together to trial innovative technologies to accelerate net zero, including new hydrogen fuel cell technology from Panasonic needed to decarbonise various industrial and commercial sites.

In the drive towards decarbonisation, individuals, communities, businesses and public sector bodies are taking proactive steps, whether that’s by installing EV charge points, solar photovoltaics or low carbon heating solutions, or developing coordinated plans.

These are positive actions. But without a clear and recognisable path to net zero, tailored towards every place in the UK, there is a danger of opportunistic delivery with some local areas pushing ahead and decarbonising at pace, while others are left behind.

Local Area Energy Plans (LAEP) aim to tackle this issue by translating national net zero targets into local energy system actions and detailed plans that are collaborative, data-driven and cost-effective.

Led by local government and developed collaboratively with defined stakeholders, LAEPs provide a fully-costed spatial plan that identifies the changes needed to the local energy system and the built environment, including costs, changes in energy use and emissions.

LAEPs ahead

SP ENW was a key partner in the development of the first ever region-wide LAEP, prepared by the GMCA, encompassing all 10 districts of the city, from street level to the wider energy network.

“The LAEP sets out our ambitions, from a renewable energy point of view, around EV charging, heat networks, renewable generation, retrofitting, housing and other aspects,” says McIntosh, “It enables SP ENW to build into spending plans the reinforcement requirements needed to support electricity provision.”

Greater Manchester faces various viability challenges in bringing new developments forward. For example, areas with low housing or commercial property values, or with brownfield remediation issues, still face high construction costs, making them less viable.

“The LEAP helps remove some of these barriers, providing a greater probability of success in bringing schemes forward, while reducing the public sector subsidy we need to put in to support them,” says McIntosh.

Dramatic changes to Manchester’s energy landscape outlined in the LAEP include the prediction that, by 2038, nearly 90% of cars will be EVs or plug-in hybrids, requiring the provision of over 72,000 charging points at homes. Charging hubs will also be required for areas of terraced housing and destinations like offices and shopping centres.

By 2035, commercial and industrial activities in Manchester will have largely shifted to using renewable electricity, district heating or hydrogen instead of fossil fuels. And by the early 2030s the vast majority of heating systems will be either electrified or use hydrogen (the government has said it will determine the role of hydrogen boilers in 2026) with up to 181,000 of dwellings fitted with heat pumps.

GMCA has grant funding to support the retrofit of social housing and public buildings and SP ENW is working closely with them to ensure appropriate connections are made to support retrofit and rooftop generation.

A Utility Week Intelligence report, in association with SP Electricity North West