Daniel Grosvenor

“Summiting a ride like the Col de L’Iseran in France is incredible. You go round a hairpin and the whole valley opens up – all of the Alps, right there. That’s the feeling. It’s the same on those rare glorious days in the Pennines in early summer. All the colours, the purples, the greens.”

This Yorkshireman weaves his supersized enthusiasm for nature, achievement and the big picture into every project. This includes his current challenge: supporting the development of the UK Government’s business model for hydrogen production.

“There are 20 million gas boilers in UK homes. To decarbonise domestic heat, we need to replace those gas boilers. So we have two options,” says Daniel. “We either replace them with hydrogen boilers or go with heat pumps and electrify heat.

“If we electrify, we need to decarbonise electricity, fast. If we hydrogenise, we need a huge national hydrogen grid and infrastructure. Either way, we need to train enough engineers to fit 20 million hydrogen boilers or heat pumps into our homes. Is it something we can do? And do we have enough time to do it?

“This level of macro policymaking means asking some very big questions.”

Daniel loves diving into questions and has done since he joined Deloitte as an auditor in 1996.

“At the time, my biggest client was a textile manufacturer, but my audit director asked if I had two weeks spare to do a financial model review. ‘Sure,’ I said. But that fortnight became a year and led me to being seconded to the energy team at what-is-now BEIS (the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).

“I went into the depths of nuclear-power and energy-market reform and all the policy around low-carbon electricity. That’s where I found my interest in the political policy environment.

“After plunging deep into restructuring the nuclear-power sector, I moved to broader low-carbon issues and decarbonisation challenges. It’s those complex projects that I really enjoy.”

“For six years, I worked on structuring EDF’s Hinckley Point C commercial deal,” he says. “About 90 percent of most deals is standard boilerplate drafting – the deals tweak the remaining ten percent.

“On Hinckley, we had maybe ten percent boilerplate, and the rest we created from scratch. We developed new commercial principles to fit in a new market in a new environment with new technology all for a project that cost £20bn. It was really exciting!”

“Delivering every project is a highlight, but one stands out: being involved in the complex rescue, relisting and restructuring of British Energy. Anytime you’re involved in a company rescue, the stakes are high, but devising a strategy that would ultimately see EDF successfully acquire British Energy, was another level."

"Our job now is to help clients deliver low-carbon power generation and the technology that integrates that into the grid.

“We want to make the UK carbon resilient, at scale, at speed, at a sensible cost. A clear vision from the Government to put a hydrogen boiler in every house can make a big difference here. With a determined outcome in mind, we can plan the infrastructure and hydrogen production we need and deliver it quicker and at a lower cost.”

“Some climate-resilient visions are quite austere: reduced meat consumption, fewer holidays abroad, less high-speed internet.

“But I must admit I enjoy some of the luxuries of carbon life – my bike and my cycling trips in the Alps, along with a nice steak to recover. So in my ideal future, we will certainly have to change our behaviour quite fundamentally, but I hope technology and innovation bridges part of the gap so we can enjoy some of these pleasures without damaging our climate. Although maybe I’ll need to ride to the Alps in the future!”