Share:
Last week Team Locogen were busy at All Energy: speaking, exhibiting and catching up with clients and colleagues old and new.
As the largest renewable and low carbon exhibition in the UK, All Energy is a brilliant opportunity to reflect on the industry achievements of the past 12 months and look to the future. Despite a turbulent economic and political run up to the event, with local and global elections putting the future of renewables into question and worries over the rising global costs of offshore wind development regularly making the news, the atmosphere was still one of resilience, positivity and a bright future for UK renewables. Of course, grid reform was high on the agenda with a whole range of talks covering the recent changes, challenges and opportunities. Hydrogen, whilst still being an innovative technology, once again featured heavily at All Energy. Here are our key takeaways from All Energy 2025:
The versatility of onshore renewables is key to the clean energy transition
- The versatility of onshore renewables is key to the clean energy transition
- Renewables are more than just hardware: AI is here to stay
- The enduring optimism of Great British Energy
- Supply chain struggles and opportunity for onshore wind
The versatility of onshore renewables is key to its role in a sustainable future for renewable energy
Flexibility, diversity, versatility…these were recurring themes across the two days, with the need for a diverse approach stressed in all areas, from the sociopolitical (planning reform, investments) to technical and innovation. This is a real strength area for onshore renewables, which provide a wide range of use cases and thus the opportunity for a varied approach to decarbonising energy, whether that be co-location of technologies or the potential for onshore wind and solar to provide direct generation across a broad range of scenarios.
Renewables are more than just hardware: AI is integral to the future of the renewables industry
AI is here, to paraphrase one speaker I heard ‘it’s no longer a question of should it be part of our systems. It is. The question is how best we use it going forward’. From grid reform to puffin surveys and energy analytics, AI was front and centre at All Energy. With a little over two years of AI in the public domain it feels like there has been a shift in perspective. We’ve gone from scepticism and fear to AI being another tool at our disposal: something to harness as a method of enhancing the efficiency and efficacy of the clean energy transition. An important message from All Energy 2025 was the use of AI to make improvements to processes, not just speeding them up. For example, enhancing the number of individuals surveyed during ecological surveys, or a smarter understanding of onshore wind site generation. AI is now embedded through all stages of the renewable project lifecycle: from document and data analysis during planning stages to energy analytics for Asset Management.
Great British Energy remains a source of positivity for investment and innovation
The establishment of Great British Energy (GBE) in late 2024 was a cause for celebration in the industry, with £8.2 billion in public funding allocated to support the clean energy transition. A little over six months in and the overall message was still positive. One area where this was seen was in innovation with GBE’s Chair calling out their support for new technologies in his keynote speech. Whilst there is a clear need for innovative approaches to decarbonising and modernising the UK’s energy system, moving innovations into the mainstream comes with challenges, not unsurprisingly given the risks and challenges associated with failures or downtime of our energy grid/networks. This discrepancy – between those who run and maintain our daily electricity systems and those innovating for our next iteration of it – does create some frustrations and conflict, so the focus of GBE on the importance of innovation, something many attendees at All Energy are engaged with, was important.
The supply chain is struggling to meet Scottish demand
Our wind technical experts spoke to Scottish developers who are struggling to secure larger scale (6-7 MW capacity) turbines and are therefore taking a strong interest in the offerings from the Chinese market. An increase in the offering of non-standard wind class turbine models will require turbine suitability to become a greater focus in early-stage project feasibility work. This includes having early discussions with manufacturers around logistics, planning requirements, wind monitoring campaigns and future turbine and parts availability. Decisions are complex and rely on information from a range of parties. With a range of European manufacturers streamlining their turbine offerings this expansion of the supply chain does bring benefits however, including providing the diverse onshore market with a broader range of turbines to suit a range of use cases and locations.
If you missed us at All Energy and would like to find out how we can support you with your renewables project please contact us at [email protected].
