The Building Podcast
Mark Wakeford is Chairman of the National Federation of Builders, vice-chair at Constructing Excellence Midlands and a Governor at Construction College, Moulton College. He has run a large regional building contractor and now chairs Evoenergy, one of the UK's foremost renewable companies, bringing low carbon solutions to corporate Britain.
Mark talks to leading experts from across the construction sector to discuss issues facing the built environment. He explores various challenges with his guests, who offer solutions, information and ideas that listeners can apply to their own situations, be it in a company, on a project or studying at college.
The Building Podcast aims to provide CPD on the go. Supporting the sector with easily digestible ideas to support a rapidly changing industry!
The Building Podcast
Mark talks to Matthew Boulton
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The Solar Taskforce, an industry / Government collaboration has been in existence since May 2023, working with both Governments to see how solar generation can be rapidly deployed to support the de-carbonisation of the electrical grid and to support the UK’s statutory net-zero target for 2050. I have been privileged to serve on this taskforce with many of the industry’s big hitters as we have identified blockers and solutions, with our partners at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and co-authored the Solar Road Map, which was recently published.
These podcasts are with senior leaders who were on the Taskforce, from both industry and Government and other movers and shakers who influence the sector. The podcasts aim to inform and explain various elements of the Solar Road Map to support its understanding and to provide more context to its recommendations.
A significant proportion of the deployment target will be taken up by large scale solar farms, dotted around the countryside. Matthew Boulton is the Director of Solar, Storage and Private Wire at EDF Renewables UK & Ireland, which is part of the large French energy group. He is responsible for the development of the large scale solar farms that EDF undertakes and for the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) that often go with these farms. Matthew has been on the Solar Energy Taskforce, bringing this first had expertise to the deliberations and ensuring that the Solar Road Map tackles the issues that will enable deployment at speed.
Unsurprisingly, Matthew is very positive about the benefits of decentralised solar generation. He believes that the magic of solar panels delivering energy to the population of the UK, without any moving parts and with less maintenance than any other form of energy generation is why solar is so accepted within the UK. He also argues that solar, with its low cost of generation, coupled with battery technology, should provide a significant share of the UK’s energy needs and he points out that the land needed to deliver this is less than 1% of the farming area in the UK and substantially less than the land taken by golf courses. Matthew is gearing his company up for the next boom, which will be a sustained boom, in solar energy deployment.
Website: https://www.edfenergy.com/