The UK government aims to achieve 100% clean power demand by 2030, with a target of at least 95% of power generation from low-carbon sources. This is part of the government’s wider target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with Prime Minister Andy Burnham reaffirming that commitment in September following the UK’s hottest summer on record.

Additionally, the government’s renewables strategy is focused on making the most of energy produced within the UK and its surrounding waters. Ministers hope that this will reduce the UK’s reliance on imported fossil fuels, and its dependence on overseas markets. Recent events have shown how vulnerable the current supply chain is to geopolitical instability.

George Cobb CA is Director of We Are Salt Consultancy, a renewable consultancy firm that provides regulatory and financial advice to offshore wind developers. He has also been involved with the ICAS Sustainability Committee as a convenor as well as an advisory panel member. He explains that financial expertise is crucial for this established, but growing, industry.

“After a developer builds a wind farm, it has to sell its transmission assets,” he says. “We work with the regulator and potential bidder to ensure a smooth transfer of assets to the new owner.”

George, who previously worked as a sustainability accountant for SSE and in offshore wind for Ofgem, adds: “It’s one big audit. We look at costs, cost control, provide a broader knowledge of commercials, help developers make decisions, or whether they’ve been diligent with suppliers. With the new owner it’s what are its commercial positions, indemnities, required liabilities, its tax assumptions about assets. It all comes down to good financial accountancy skills.”

“If you’re doing accountancy, looking after money and investments, it should be in a green and sustainable way – that’s how to protect long-term returns” 

George Cobb CA, Director of We Are Salt Consultancy

Since April 2023, George, through his consultancy, has worked as an independent contractor for the Inch Cape Offshore Wind Farm. Home to 72 turbines, Inch Cape is currently under construction 15km off the Angus Coast and will be one of Scotland’s largest offshore wind farms. Developers Red Rock Renewables Limited and ESB expect the wind farm to have an installed capacity of 1.1GW and generate nearly 5TWh of electricity a year, enough to power around half of Scottish homes (1.6 million households). Commercial operations at Inch Cape are expected to begin mid-2027.

“My role is in offshore transactions and supply-chain plan commitments,” George says. “Because of my background in sustainability accounting, I also look at what is good environmentally, socially and economically for the project.”

The cost of energy is uppermost in everyone’s minds right now. Bills go up again on 1 October, with a further rise expected in January, and in some quarters, price hikes are often blamed on the cost of decarbonisation – green levies and infrastructure and technology upgrades, rather than our reliance on global gas markets made volatile by geopolitical instability. Renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels, and then there’s the environmental impact of decarbonisation. But George believes we need to be realistic about what we can achieve in the short term.

“Renewable energy is not a silver bullet; it’s part of a balanced power grid. We need to maybe start with a greater number of days where we don’t use coal, gas, imports; or if we do import, it’s from friendly nations. The grid we need in the future will be different from the past grid. Data centres were not even in energy scenarios three or four years ago. With energy it takes time to make changes and that is why we need to stay the course and set long-term goals over quick wins.”

George will be on the panel at the ICAS Sustainability Summit in Edinburgh on 7 October. The Summit explores how CAs can embed sustainability into information systems, and how their strengths in measurement, risk and judgement can help integrate sustainability.

“CAs give people the data to make decisions, we have the skills as accountants to give credibility and accountability to facts and figures,” George says. “Back when I was at university, I realised that if you’re doing accountancy, looking after money and investments, it should be in a green and sustainable way – that’s how to protect long-term returns. As CAs we really do have the skills to change the world. So come along to the summit, join the dialogue – you have much more to contribute than you think.”

The National Geothermal Council (NGC) believes that geothermal plants could deliver up to 1.5GW of electricity to UK homes and business by 2050, which is enough to power over four million homes. Deep geothermal plants draw energy from water heated by underground rocks to spin turbines connected to electricity generators. This is a popular and growing industry in the USA, Indonesia, the Philippines, Iceland and many other parts of the world.

The UK’s first commercial deep geothermal power plant, United Downs, opened last February, near Truro in Cornwall, which is an ideal place for geothermal development. It contains a 250km-long stretch of underground granite from Dartmoor to the Isles of Scilly, a rock formation which is also lithium-enriched. United Downs owners, Geothermal Engineering Limited (GEL), plans to use its plant to produce the UK’s first commercial source of lithium. 

Lithium extraction works like this. As water from the geothermal well circulates through the granite, it dissolves lithium-bearing minerals and creates a mineral-rich brine from which the lithium is extracted. The UK currently imports all its raw lithium, but GEL aims to eventually extract and process over 30,000 tonnes per annum of the critical mineral across multiple sites. This requires investment, and Simon Ellison CA, GEL’s Chief Financial Officer, explains that financial experts have a crucial role to play in securing the funds needed.

“There are government grants out there, but you must wade through a lot of bureaucracy to secure them”

Simon Ellison CA, GEL’s CFO

“You have to show potential investors each stage of the process, what the costs are, where the sources are and show confidence in your projection,” he says. “Can you stand by your numbers, show investors where revenues are coming from, the cost base, the risk mitigation you have in place? Then you have to communicate all this clearly, coherently and simply, particularly if an investor doesn’t know the industry.”

Simon, who was previously Group Finance Director for the Goonvean Group and before that Head of Finance at the Eden Project in Cornwall, adds: “Geothermal and lithium are emerging industries in the UK, so you have to find the people within various institutions who have a mandate to invest in these areas, and then build relationships with them. With geothermal energy, we have a 15-year price guarantee from government. I can take that to an investor and say, here’s the site, we’ve got planning permission and 15 years guaranteed price. We don’t yet have a similar mechanism for critical minerals. If we can get a floor price, it’s easier to attract investors.”

GEL has started operations at United Downs, but must also look to new developments. The company has planning consent for three more geothermal plants in Cornwall and is looking at further potentially suitable sites. Simon explains that to manage this dual mandate, he has his team deal with day-to-day matters while he looks to the future. This often means working with government.

“From government, ideally, you’d like slicker processes for permits and planning. There are government grants out there and we very much appreciate their support. We have fantastic local MPs that back what we are trying to achieve,” he says. “For our part as geothermal and lithium developers, we need to show government that we have a plan, confidence and know-how to deliver on our promises. Also, where possible, that we’re prepared to work with other players in the industry to create a cluster. We want to be successful as individual companies, obviously, but it’s important that we establish an industry.”

To develop an industry, Simon believes that geothermal and lithium developers must work with local communities. “Sustainable finance is about circular economies – using local suppliers, contractors, skills, consultants to create jobs for generations of people,” he says. “You also have to make sure local colleges have the requisite qualifications so students can step into industry roles. I’m from Cornwall, I care about this, I’ve seen what has happened down here over the years and want to eventually leave an industry that is growing. I want things to be better in 10 years than they are today.”

Simon is excited about being involved in the start of this potential new sector in the UK renewable energy industry. “Today we have one site and 25 employees, in 10 years it could be 200 employees and multiple sites, generating millions and not hurting the environment,” he says. “There’s a huge resource under Cornwall, and we have an opportunity to see something go exponential. The first plant took 15 years to develop, the next one might take three years, and the one after that one year. We need to crack on with it; this all helps towards security of domestic energy and resources. The resource is there, it’s not speculation, it’s just a case of getting it done.”

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