Energy Research Partnership

Background

The Energy Research Partnership (ERP) is a government advisory body, launched in January 2006, made up of industry and government officials. It includes several high-level, pro-nuclear figures.

According to a government press release, ERP will be :

• 'Identifying approaches and technologies to accelerate carbon reduction and maintain security of supply, at an affordable price, and establishing strategic objectives and priorities for energy research in the UK that helps bring these to commercial reality';

• 'Achieving a step change in the rate of energy innovation in the UK by considering how the UK supports energy research and development and the options for enhancing coherency, effectiveness and value of future programmes';

• 'Addressing the high level skills shortages in the energy sector and communicating the exciting and challenging opportunities that the energy sector offers';

• 'Bringing together top energy industry executives, Whitehall officials and senior academics in a Treasury-inspired initiative designed to give strategic direction to UK energy research, development, demonstration and deployment'; and

• 'Working towards the main objectives of the Government's Energy White Paper, including a reduction of CO2 emissions by 60% by about 2050, the maintenance of reliable power supplies, the promotion of competitive markets and ensuring that every home is adequately and affordably heated'.

Who is involved?

The press release stated that the following people sit on the ERP^[1]:

• Sir David King, the Government's Chief Scientist (co-chair)
• Dr Paul Golby, Chief Executive of Eon UK (co-chair)
• Pam Alexander, Chief Executive, South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)
• Tony Amor, Senior Adviser, ITI Energy
• Peter Bance, Chief Executive Officer, Ceres Power Ltd
• Alistair Buchanan, Chief Executive, Ofgem
• Iain Conn, Executive Director, BP plc
• Prof Howard Dalton, Chief Scientific Adviser, DEFRA
• Mike Farley, Dir. Technology Policy Liaison, Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd ('a leading engineering contractor for the nuclear industry'
• Prof David Fisk, Chief Scientific Adviser, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
• Helen Fleming, Head, Competition and Economic Regulation Team, HM Treasury
• David Hughes, DG Innovation Group, Department of Trade and Industry
• Sue Ion, Group Director of Technology, BNFL
• Prof Frank Kelly, Chief Scientific Adviser, Research & Technology Strategy Division, Department for Transport
• Simon Linnett, Executive Vice Chairman, Rothschild
• John Loughhead, Executive Director, UK Energy Research Centre
• Ian Marchant, Chief Executive, Scottish and Southern Electric
• Geoffrey Norris, Senior Policy Advisor, 10 Downing Street
• Turlogh O'Brien, Director, Arup
• Prof John O'Reilly, Chief Executive, EPSRC
• Nick Otter, Director of Technology and External Affairs, ALSTOM Power Ltd
• Graeme Sweeney, Executive Vice President, Shell Renewables and Hydrogen
• David Vincent, Technical Director, The Carbon Trust
• Peter Waller, Head, Energy Industries and Technologies Unit, Department of Trade and Industry
• Nick Winser, Group Director, National Grid

House of Lords 'mystified' by ERP

On July 5, 2005, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee said it was 'mystified by the announcement that the Government intend to establish a 'UK Energy Research Partnership'. We already have the UKERC, Research Councils, the Carbon Trust, Regional Development Agencies. We believe that it would be more fruitful to strengthen the role of the UKERC, and that no case has yet been made for adding another layer of bureaucracy to the administration of energy research.'