Five words on...

The future of energy

From Alistair Phillips-Davies, Chief Executive of FTSE 100 utility company SSE

The future of energy

When it comes to climate change, no one has all the answers. But it’s by working together that we’ll have the best chance of making a positive difference.

We’re fortunate to be connected to some of the most brilliant people and organisations in the world. So we’ve been speaking to a range of experts, in fields from science to business, to find out how they’re going about reaching net zero.

As part of an exclusive series of interviews for the Financial Times we chatted with Alistair Phillips-Davies, Chief Executive of FTSE 100 utility company SSE.

As a taster for the full interview, here are five things we learned from Alistair about how evolving an energy supplier, from carbon-emitter to net-zero hero, means playing the long game …

“Talking to people you get an enormous amount back from that. Every minute you spend out with staff in depots and planning rooms is hugely beneficial in terms of alignment. We also get ide-as from employees. It pays to trust the people at the edges of organisation to tell you how things are.”
Alistair Phillips-Davies Chief Executive, SSE
A key goal of the energy grid of the future is greater storage capacity where power can be sustained for 24 hours or more.
SSE is working with partners to create a multi-billion pound undersea energy super-highway that will be instrumental in helping to green the European grid.
Ultimately, success means investing in a variety of long-term projects. Like the Viking wind farm, set on a remote island in the Shetlands, and under development since 2005.
Creating good-quality, permanent jobs means preparing a workforce with its roots in the fossil-fuel era for a future based on wind, solar and hydrogen – and making them feel part of the mission.
SSE learns by talking to people at the edges of their organisation. They say it like it is — and in re-turn, want to hear how the company is following through on what they said they’ll do.

Enjoyed this article?

You can read the interview with Alistair Phillips-Davies in the FT.

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