GE takes road to carbon neutrality

What we don’t have any real commitment to yet is how fast and how that will be achieved, because unlike many other jurisdictions, Guernsey has a vacuum where an up-to-date energy policy should sit. Jersey and others have plumped for a 2030 target, the UK and the EU to 2050.

Indeed our sister island has rushed off the starting line, making that commitment and declaring a climate emergency in May, publishing a carbon neutral strategy by the end of 2019.

Guernsey’s long-awaited energy policy will be debated by the end of this term, but already what is certain is that the road to carbon neutrality involves the electrification of a large proportion of our lives, most noticeably transport, which accounts for the highest proportion of our greenhouse gas emissions, and heating.

So how that electricity is produced is key.

This week, in some ways pre-empting the wider debate, Guernsey Electricity released its own Environmental Sustainability Strategy. It is planning for a carbon neutral future, and taking some immediate actions.

All imported energy will now come from renewable sources, so no more nuclear, while by 2022 it will burn cleaner fuel when it does fire up the on-island generators. It has also committed to develop a direct cable link to France by 2025 which should mean local generation only being needed in emergency situations. Longer term it has backed local solar generation being a major part of the energy future, it could cover nearly a quarter of power of Guernsey’s power needs by 2050.

The island’s States-owned power supplier has a plan, as of yet, its master does not.

Guernsey Electricity cannot stand still, it is facing the prospect of a change to its role as more domestic power generation and storage develops - one day it may well not be the dominant supplier, but it will still need to be there to ensure all the lights stay on, not just those at businesses and individuals that can invest in new technology.

There is a cost to all this, but then there is a cost to not acting - the slower Guernsey is to adjust, the higher that becomes for future generations.