Key Themes from the APSE Big Energy Summit 2019

A week on from the hectic activity of the APSE Big Energy Summit and now I’ve had time to take a step back and think of some of the issues that emerged. I mentioned when opening the event that we simply didn’t have time to cover all of the topics we would have liked. Nevertheless, we got through a mass of presentations, workshops, case studies and much more. Themes which emerged from the summit included the need to:-

• challenge the status quo of energy management if we are to move further forward;
• take a long term approach for infrastructure projects;
• appreciate the need to accept and work within a rapidly changing sector;
• use the support that is out there not only from APSE Energy but from BEIS and elsewhere;
• clarify your commercial approach;
• realise that the more scale a project has the more likely it is to attract private sector funding;
• hone your planning and project management skills if you’re working towards a climate emergency  declaration or similar;
• understand the need to invest in appropriate skill and training both policy-related and technical;
• get a grip of data – yours, your customers’, your technology’s, your suppliers’ – it will be fundamental to how the success of future projects.