Mr. Robin McCormick:

The big issue we have is that the demand is increasing and therefore to maintain 40% from renewable sources requires an increase in renewable energy capacity on the system beyond 2020. If we want to do better than that, we need to increase the rate at which renewable capacity is connected to the system. We have been very successful in connecting onshore wind and we now have a fresh challenge of connecting offshore wind at a quantum that will match and exceed that 40% target.

The interest in offshore wind energy generation has been off the east coast, which is closer to the demand than those large generators the Chairman mentioned off the west coast. Therefore it is well placed relative to grid infrastructure. If an offshore grid were constructed, it would be connected into an area of the grid that needs and can benefit from support.

The idea of a centralised strategic plan for offshore wind energy generation has many benefits. It would allow us to set out the plan and deliver it in a co-ordinated manner in parallel with the offshore development. Traditionally we wait for someone to come along and ask to connect to our system. We then look at what the implications for the system would be. We then develop an infrastructure plan to manage that.

More recently with the data centre growth we have had a rush of connection requests for significant amounts of demand. That puts pressure on that process and we have had to look at that afresh to try to find a more strategic way of managing that. That will continue to be the case in how we match our system capability with the demand that is there. We have to match the contribution the transmission grid makes and the contribution that generation support makes. We have talked a bit about the data centres and their requirement to be supported from renewable energy. First the renewable energy sources need to be there. We have an integrated single electricity market that allows all players to construct bilateral contracts behind the scenes and the market allows us to run the system in the most efficient manner and deliver the best prices to customers.