Net Zero Infrastructure Strategy

The contract is a mini-competition on behalf of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales (NICW) who are operating under remit from Welsh Ministers, herein after referred to as ‘the Client’, in order to establish a contract for research: Net Zero Infrastructure Strategy under the CCS Heat Networks and Electricity Generation Assets agreement (RM3824), herein after referred to as ‘HELGA’. The estimated value for the contract is GBP 70,000 exc. VAT.The fundamental question to be addressed by this research contract is:- How can value for Wales be maximised through the strategic development of relevant infrastructure by 2050?There are many potential paths to achieving a net zero, renewably powered 2050. Some of these paths could be tweaks to ‘business as usual’ which has led to shortfalls in the benefits achieved for the energy bill-payers of Wales.For example, projects that are wholly or partially owned by organisations or individuals based in Wales provide greater value on an individual basis than those that are not; however local ownership of projects alone would likely not enable a sufficiently rapid transition to a low carbon economy and would jeopardise the overall goal of mitigating the nature and climate emergencies.The research must ultimately provide the NICW with recommendations to make to Welsh Ministers on what needs to change in the current regulatory / policy framework to achieve its over-arching goals. Other relevant audiences for this work include policy, governance, civil society, media, education and trade body representatives and organisations in Wales.The following questions are expected to be answered through this research. Innovation in approach and thinking is encouraged as part of this exercise to answer the following questions:- Are there infrastructure interventions that will support development of energy projects that deliver more of the well-being goals?- How can Wales increase its local ownership of energy generation technologies, and over time, what sort of infrastructure strategies should be considered to increase local ownership and/or local spend on renewable energy and its associated infrastructure?- How could policy help improve value retention in Wales, particularly where the Welsh Government has devolved responsibility? For example:-What models exist for value to be retained in communities that could be linked to the development of renewable energy infrastructure? How can communities be incentivised to host new infrastructure of this nature?-Finally, to what extent should policy or investment in Wales seek to incentivise particular technology developments that could help ‘real time’ management of electricity or gas to reduce costs, or match to local (or wider) renewable energy deployment?