CEG Blog
August 2022
In August, the CEG met in person at InTEGRel, Low Thornley. InTEGRel is a new integrated energy facility based in Gateshead. Led by NGN in partnership with Northern Powergrid and Newcastle University, the faculty is helping to tackle the UK’s energy challenges, with teams of academics and engineers working to deliver breakthroughs in the decarbonisation of heat, energy storage and transport, to identify the most affordable and practical solutions to moving customers onto low carbon, low cost energy.
We met at the site to have a look at the ongoing work, including the hydrogen houses that are being trialled. We were impressed by the work being done, and the work planned for the future, noting that the current energy and cost of living crises gave added impetus to the efforts being made to find suitable replacements for gas at an affordable price.
Our meeting covered a range of topics and commenced with a discussion with CEO Mark Horsley, who talked about a recent incident and the learning from that, the delivery of the GD2 first year reporting, the HSE changes in working patterns and the current negotiations on pay.
On Communities, he talked about the interaction with Ofgem on supporting the most vulnerable. He also raised the issue of Winter resilience, and finally, the Ofgem audit on cyber security.
We then discussed Vulnerable & Carbon Monoxide Allowance spend and the strategy going forward. We consider this to be an extremely important issue, particularly in the current crisis and will be receiving a further presentation to discuss what extra help might be given at our September meeting.
On the environment, we received an overview of environmental performance in 2021/22 and an update on the work of the Sustainability Steering Group.