Meet the Ambassadors - Stuart Batty
We sat down with Stuart Batty, Senior Project Development Manager at SSE Energy Solutions for Behind-the-Meter (BtM). Stuart shared with us how the BtM sector supports our Whole System Thinking approach to decarbonising clients.
Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself your role, how long you've been at SSE and kind of journey to this position?
I’m one of the Senior Project Development Managers within the Behind-the-Meter (BtM) sector. Simply to me this is project management of the development part of projects working first and foremost with clients on their BtM renewable energy solution.
I have been involved within the utilities and energy sector for over twenty years, nine years within SSE and the last five in Distributed Energy.
What do you find is a key challenge for businesses trying to reach net zero and decarbonize their operations?
From our clients view the energy sector can be a bit of a minefield. They hear different messages around things that can go wrong when installing their own renewable generation. Regulation problems, grid constraints, planning difficulties and more. They then find difficulties in their commercial return forecasts as ultimately they have too many unknowns as to whether their project is commercially viable or not. It’s not always clear to them where to start.
At SSE we develop our proposition together with the client dispelling any uncertainty and work towards the most viable way to decarbonise.
Can you tell us a little bit about how behind the meter supports the journey to net zero?
BtM projects are direct electrical connections from renewable sources located on or near our client’s property onto their infrastructure bypassing the grid. This allows our client to completely remove any ambiguity over greenwashing.
In BtM we offer long term Power Purchase Agreements with our clients meaning we remain as their energy partner and will continue to look at different things and realise new ways for them to use their energy continuing that journey to net zero.
Can you provide a brief overview of the EV offering and how it supports businesses on the journey to net zero?
Our EV offering is based around ultra rapid (75kw and above) charging across an average of 10 bays or more. We are looking to build 300 sites and these are being targeted at the 10 large metro cities and 250 towns and cities across the UK with a population of 50k or more. In the key strategic geographies we are looking to build more than one site and in and around London our ambition is 30 plus.
Our sites will be a mixture of just charging alongside third party amenities with a selection of our larger sites delivering our own.
We are looking to stand out in a crowded sector with our fast, resilient, reliable, available charging with a number of sites receiving canopies and ranging from solar, live living roof and we are also using recycled turbine blades as a way of standing out.
We are starting to develop an HGV and Truck proposition that will compliment our E-Bus experience and we are also looking at ways to deliver fast charging (up to 50kw) with strategic clients and large fleets.
How does whole system's thinking at SSE, support your clients ?
Whole System Thinking (WST) is different from client to client and there’s no one size solution that fits all. Our client may initially be interested in decarbonising energy with perhaps one technology in mind but the development path they participate with us may develop and expand to a form of WST utilising whichever technologies are most appropriate.
We work together within SSE Energy Solutions to collaborate and introduce a client when necessary to how best suits their needs – this can be over years as a project develops and grows. Our ambition is to use our knowledge and expertise to bring to an organisation, utilising all our technologies and forming our Whole System Thinking approach, which ultimately, supports customers journey to net zero.