Energy policy

Introduction

The production and use of energy is vitally important in modern economies and has become even more so recently as a result of –

• A general acceptance of the need to reduce global warming which has significant implications for the use of fossil fuels.
• Substantial increases in the cost of energy, which have contributed to cost-of-living pressures and increased the weighting of resilience in decisions on energy policy.

Jersey is a consumer rather than a producer of energy. This paper seeks to explain all aspects of energy supply and consumption in the Island and analyses key policy issues.

Summary

There are three main sources of energy - fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal), nuclear power and renewables (hydro, wind and solar). Fossil fuels are used directly and also to produce electricity. Nuclear power and renewables are used almost entirely to produce electricity. Building new energy facilities can be very capital expensive while marginal costs can be low. Currently, electricity can be stored only to a limited extent, but this is changing as battery technology develops.

Energy consumption in Jersey has fallen by 44% since the mid-1990s and there has been a significant switch away from electricity being generated from oil to electricity being generated by nuclear and hydro power.

Of total energy consumed in Jersey in 2023, 57% was provided by oil, 39% by electricity and 4% by gas. Oil is the major fuel for vehicles and heating. Electricity is imported from France through three undersea cables and is either nuclear or hydro in origin. Domestic users accounted for 39% of energy use, industry and government for 27%, road transport for 25% and air and marine for 8%.

Energy policy has to reconcile three competing objectives – sustainability, security and affordability.

Jersey is committed at a minimum to: reduce emissions by 68% compared to the 1990 baseline by 2030; reduce them to 78% from the baseline by 2035; deliver net-zero emissions by 2050. Increased use of renewables cannot help achieve these objectives; Jersey’s electricity is already produced from low carbon sources. The objectives can be achieved only by significant electrification, particularly in transport, and the replacement of some fossil/hydrocarbon fuels with non-fossil hydrocarbons. The short -term targets are that by 2030 no new petrol driven cars and light vans will be registered, 67% of all vehicles will be decarbonised and 75% of domestic and 50% of commercial fossil fuelled boilers will be decarbonised. The evidence suggests that these targets are not capable of being met.

Jersey does not currently have an energy strategy. The Carbon Neutral Roadmap (CNR) is currently a key document in respect to energy policy. The official view is that the proposal for export scale offshore wind energy would transform energy strategy. “Focus has been on Council of Ministers’ development of a proposal for export scale offshore wind energy with an in-principal Report and Proposition being debated in the States Assembly in March[2024]. Such a decision would transform our energy strategy. A conclusion to this policy proposal, as well as further ongoing analysis of the energy market particularly any impacts on the LPG gas market, will allow this Government to develop an Energy Strategy.” However, the States Assembly simply decided that “Jersey should pursue the opportunities arising from the development of offshore wind in the south-west of its territorial waters”, the Minister making clear that the proposition did not commit the Island to building a wind farm and that after detailed studies had taken place a decision could be reached that the concept did not work for Jersey.

The four big issues that Jersey needs to address are –

• How to reduce use of fossil fuels for transport and heating, essential if the CNR targets are to be seriously pursued. Current policies are not nearly sufficient in this respect.
• How the increased demand for electricity will be met given reduced use of fossil fuels. Jersey Electricity estimates that the growth in electricity usage to meet the island’s net-zero 2050 target will increase peak demand by 25%.
• Whether the Government will require Jersey Electricity to work on the assumption that it will buy its electricity from the wind farm from when it becomes operational.
• Whether there is scope for Jersey and Guernsey to work together on energy strategy.

An overview of the supply of and demand for energy

The way that energy has been produced has changed dramatically over the years. Thousands of years ago wood was used to provide heat. Over 1,000 years ago wind and water power were first used to drive mills. With the industrial revolution coal became a major source of energy, used directly by heavy industry and later to produce electricity. In the 20 ^th century oil and gas became more important and later in the second half of the century nuclear power became an energy source. More recently, natural resources – wind, the sun and water - have become more important. There has also been an increasing concentration on energy efficiency, both on cost grounds and also because of the effects of the use of fossil fuels on the climate.

Today, energy sources comprise –

Fossil fuels – coal, gas and oil

Renewables – solar, wind and hydro

Nuclear

Electricity is not an independent source of energy but rather a product of one of the primary sources. Fossil fuels are used directly and to produce electricity, while renewables and nuclear are used almost entirely to provide electricity.

The sources are very different in nature. Coal, gas and oil are physical commodities that need to be extracted from below the surface and then transported to where they are used. They have the advantage of being easily stored. Renewables, by their very nature, are more erratic and given that electricity cannot be stored to any significant extent this impacts on their effectiveness. Renewables depend on favourable circumstances - the sun, wind and water - therefore they can be located only in appropriate places. Solar and wind power in particular can be variable, as production can sometimes fall to zero.

For this reason many countries use a combination of sources of electricity, ideally using renewables and nuclear power but having fossil fuels when there is a drop off in supply from renewables. Renewables and nuclear power both have relatively low running costs but particularly in the case of nuclear power there are very high capital costs and a long lead time before new plant can come onstream. The Hinkley Point C nuclear power station will cost about £33 billion and take over ten years to build. “Small nuclear reactors” have a capital cost of about £1.8 billion.

A House of Commons Research Briefing Introduction to the domestic energy market provides a good analysis of these points, much of which is relevant to Jersey.

Although currently there is limited scope to store electricity on an industrial scale considerable resources are being devoted to developments in this respect. A House of Commons Research Briefing Battery Energy Storage Systems usefully analyses the position. Its summary states –

Battery energy storage systems (BESSs) can store electricity during times when supply is high and demand is low, then release electricity when it is needed.

BESSs can support the use of renewable energy technologies, such as wind and solar power, because they reduce the supply issues that are associated with their intermittency. They can store the electricity that is generated when, for example, the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, and release it later when consumers need it. National Grid states that BESSs are “essential to speeding up the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy”.

Among the points made in this paper are –

• Batteries are best suited for short-duration energy supply. This means that they can supply energy boosts to the grid for several hours. They are usually used only for short durations of energy supply because they are relatively expensive to install but are energy efficient (meaning that little charge is lost in the process of charging the battery).
• It is estimated that in 2023 there were 161 operational energy storage sites in the UK with a total capacity of 2.4 GW.
• The installation of a grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) requires planning consent.
• Operators of BESSs that have a net capacity of more than 100 MW must hold a generating licence.
• Arrangements are needed to ensure the fire safety of BESSs.
• The commercial development of long-duration energy storage requires financial support because of high upfront capital costs and uncertain revenue streams.
• Most rechargeable batteries are currently manufactured in East Asia.

Energy use in Jersey

The authoritative source of information on energy in Jersey is the annual Energy Trends report published by Statistics Jersey. The most recent is for 2023, published on 7 August 2024.

The key statistic is the TOE, an abbreviation for energy used by burning a tonne of crude oil. The figure peaked at 245,000 TOE in 1996. By 2023 it had fallen by 44% to 137,033. The 2023 figure was 1.5% below the 2022 figure of 139,055 TOE.

The key trends are explained in the 2023 report –

• An increase in imported electricity and the complementary decrease in imported petroleum products for on-Island electricity generation.
• A generally downward trend since around 2007 due to a range of factors, including a reduction in the use of kerosene for domestic heating and of motor fuels for transportation.

Total energy consumption in 2023 was 133,259 TOE. Table 1 shows consumption by source in 2022 and 2023

Table 1 Energy consumption by source Jersey, 2022 and 2023

The table shows that –

• Consumption of petroleum products was 4.2% lower in 2023 than in 2022 and accounted for 57% of the total.
• Consumption of gas was nearly 16% higher in 2023 than in 2022.
• Consumption of electricity was virtually unchanged between 2022 and 2023.

Table 2 shows the end users of energy.

Table 2 End users of energy Jersey, 2022 and 2023

In the UK the figures are domestic 32%, transport 34%, industry 18% and services 16%.

Consumption per capita in 2023 was 1.3 TOE, well below the UK figure of 1.9 TOE.

Of energy use in homes in 2023, electricity accounted for 57%, petroleum products for 38% and gas for 4%. For comparison, the UK figures were 23% for electricity, 67% for gas, 6% for oil and 3% for renewables.

Energy supply in Jersey

57% of Jersey’s energy consumption is of petroleum products. Oil is imported into Jersey by oil tankers to the La Collette Fuel Farm storage facility run by the Fuel Consortium owned by Esso UK and La Collette Terminal Ltd. It is then distributed by fuel tankers to industrial, commercial, agricultural and domestic consumers and retail petrol providers.

Gas accounts for just 4% of energy consumption in Jersey compared with 17% in the UK. Jersey uses Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) rather than natural gas. It is shipped to the Island and stored at the gas storage facility at the harbour. Mains gas is manufactured at the gas production plant which creates an LPG air mixture. This is then distributed through an underground distribution network for domestic, industrial and commercial use. Those not connected to the main distribution network are supplied with bottled LPG.

Electricity accounts for 38% of the supply of energy. Responsibility for supplying electricity rests with one company – Jersey Electricity, which is partly owned by the Government of Jersey. Jersey Electricity’s Annual Report and Accounts 2023 provides comprehensive information about the company and more generally about the supply of electricity in Jersey and the path to net zero. Its strategy is usefully summarised in the Chief Executive’s report –

Our strategy is to import competitively priced, low carbon power from France, from nuclear as well as certified hydro-electric sources, whilst continuing to work hard to reduce the costs of island sourced renewable energy to make them viable. We are now successfully building a position in larger scale solar and actively exploring offshore wind. At the same time we are monitoring the progress of new tidal technologies to see where and how they could be test-deployed in local waters.

Jersey obtains 95% of its electricity from France. Of this 34% is hydro electricity from the Rance Barrage and 66% is nuclear energy from the plant at Flamanville in Normandy. For comparison, the UK figures are 40% from renewables, 15% from nuclear and 43% from fossil fuels. There is a limited amount of locally produced electricity from the Government’s energy from waste plant and some solar power units at the Queen’s Road Car Park, La Collette Power Station, Woodside Farm and Jersey Dairy. The power stations at La Collette and Queen’s Road provide backup in the case of power from France being disrupted.

Three cables supply electricity from France to Jersey –

- Normandie 1 runs for 27km from Surville in Normandy to Archirondel and came onstream in 2017.

- Normandie 2 runs from Saint-Remy des Landes to Archirondel and came onstream in 2000.

- Normandie 3 runs for 19km from Periers to Armanville, then 32km undersea to Grouville and 7km underground to the South Hill switching station and came onstream in 2014.

There is also an interconnector between Jersey and Guernsey. Jersey Electricity and its sister company in Guernsey have a joint venture, the Channel Islands Electricity Grid, which owns and operates the interconnectors with France and Guernsey.

Interconnectors (the technical expression for cables for transmission of large amounts of electricity) are common in many other areas. The UK has seven interconnectors – to France, Ireland, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands. They are two way – enabling supply and demand to be balanced between countries.

Energy policy generally

Energy policy is the responsibility of the Jersey Government, as it is of all governments. The House of Commons Briefing Paper notes that the energy policy of successive British Governments has used the energy “trilemma” framework with the following three objectives –

• Sustainability: decarbonise electricity generation.
• Security: ensure uninterrupted supply.
• Affordability: minimise the cost of energy to consumers .

These apply in any jurisdiction and are relevant to Jersey. A key point is the trade-off between the three objectives. Actions that improve sustainability or security have cost implications and therefore affect the cost of energy to consumers.

Scope for increased use of renewables in generating electricity

Jersey is an island surrounded by seas with a huge title range. The seas can also be quite windy at times and Jersey claims to be one of the sunniest parts of the British Isles. Therefore it is not surprising that there has been consideration as to whether Jersey should be making much more use of renewables - wind, water and solar power - and also that it should aim for more energy sovereignty – that is not being reliant on importing electricity from France.

This issue needs to be considered from first principles - what would be the purpose of Jersey investing in renewable energy? Would it be to provide cheaper power, more resilience in the supply of electricity or making a contribution on the path to net zero? These issues are considered in turn.

Would renewables produce cheaper power?

Currently, electricity in Jersey is comparatively cheap compared with other jurisdictions. Tariffs in Jersey are 10 to 20% lower than in Guernsey and the Isle of Man and a third below the UK. This reflects a long-term contract that Jersey Electricity has with the French supplier EDF. This contract expires in 2027 and Jersey Electricity will need to negotiate a new contract with EDF or another supplier, which will be at market rates. Jersey is currently considering becoming an energy supplier though a wind farm. It remains to be seen how this will develop, but it does not follow automatically that this would result in cheaper electricity; that would depend on market circumstances at the time.

Should Jersey seek to be more self-sufficient in electricity supply?

Over the past few years there has been increasing attention on the resilience of fuel supplies largely as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine which had an immediate and massive impact on energy markets. There were even reports of a threat that France would cut off electricity to Jersey over a dispute on fishing although this was never a realistic prospect. Electricity cables are susceptible to damage and over time eventually wear out; having a reliance on one cable would certainly be risky. Currently, there are three undersea cables running between Normandy and Jersey and this gives considerable resilience. Also, in the event of all three cables being damaged or for other reasons supply from France being cut off then the power stations at La Collette and Queens Road are capable of supplying the Island, albeit at a substantial cost. The Island could build more resilience, for example by storing more oil, but this would come with a cost.

Would greater use of renewables help achieve net zero?

In respect to Jersey’s commitment to achieve net zero by 2050 there is nothing further that can be done in respect of electricity given that currently almost all of it is generated not from fossil fuels. The Carbon Neutral Road Map commented. –

While access to low-carbon electricity can be maintained, switching to other forms of low-carbon generation at either the utility scale (for example wind or tidal generation) or more local sustainable generation (for example PV panels on roofs) will not provide further carbon reductions, although it could bring other benefits for energy security and (in some use cases, in particular for those generating energy) affordability.

Implications of Jersey’s commitment to reduce emissions

Jersey has voluntarily adhered to the Paris Agreement and is therefore committed to “at a minimum, reduce emissions by 68% compared to our 1990 baseline by 2030; and reduce them to 78% from baseline by 2035 and deliver net-zero emissions by 2050”.

Jersey’s path to meeting these commitments is set out in the Carbon Neutral Roadmap, which was approved by the States Assembly on 29 April 2022. This states that –

The future of Jersey requires significant electrification, particularly in transport; the replacement of some fossil/hydrocarbon fuels with non-fossil hydrocarbons, and potentially hydrogen, will also be required

The Roadmap sets out what will need to be done in various time periods. By 2030 the targets are that -

• No new petrol driven cars and light vans will be registered.
• 67% of all vehicles will be decarbonised.
• 75% of domestic and 50% of commercial fossil-fuelled boilers will be decarbonised.

By 2050 99% of all vehicles will be decarbonised and there will be 100% zero carbon heating.

In respect of road traffic the Roadmap says this will require a combination of –

• A reduced need to travel – for example by people living closer to their work.
• A shift to active travel and public transport and away from private cars.
• Car travel to be made by low emission vehicles.

For heating, it is envisaged that both buildings and appliances will be more energy efficient, that the installation of new fossil fuel boilers will stop after 2030 and existing boilers will be converted, particularly through replacement by heat pumps. The Roadmap states that in respect of domestic heating –

With an estimated 21,559 fossil fuel boilers currently in the Island, the target is c16,000 boilers to be switched by 2030.

Similarly, there is a target of switching 1,700 of 3,415 fossil fuel boilers in commercial buildings by 2030.

These are challenging targets and the evidence suggests that they are not capable of being met. They are also costly. The Roadmap states that the minimum direct cost for the Government to implement fully the identified policies is £215 million. There is no indication of the costs for consumers or businesses nor is there any analysis of what will be required to achieve the targets.

This can be illustrated by considering the cost of heat pumps. These cost around £10,000 to install. Assuming 10,000 boilers are replaced by heat pumps by 2030 the total cost would be £100 million. A subsidy is envisaged but of course the cost of the subsidy would be met by the Jersey public through taxation.

The Centre’s Policy Brief Carbon Neutral Roadmap analyses these issues in detail.

Proposal for a wind farm

On 17 October 2023 the Council of Ministers announced that “an offshore wind farm, with the potential to provide significant environmental and economic benefits for Jersey will be built in the southwest of the Island’s territorial waters…..the plans for a facility of up to around 1,000MW would comfortably produce enough electricity to meet the Island’s own needs, with the remainder to be exported”.

On 10 November 2023 the Government announced a consultation on the proposal. Key points from the proposal are reproduced below –

The proposed windfarm would generate up to around 1,000MW of low carbon electricity.

Taking into account times when it does not produce electricity (for example, when there is little or no wind), a 1,000MW wind farm would generate around 3,800MWh of renewable energy each year.

This is about 6 times the amount of electricity currently used in Jersey, and about twice as much as would be used if everything in the Island, including all heating and transport, was run on electricity. The energy that Jersey does not use would be exported to other countries.

Because wind power isn’t constant, we would still need to import some electricity to make sure that we have a consistent and stable service at all times.

The windfarm would be built in the south-west of Jersey’s waters, next to the existing St Brieuc windfarm. Initial investigations have identified this area as benefitting from relatively shallow sites and energetic wind conditions.

A wind farm such as this will cost several billion pounds to design and build. Because of the very significant level of investment needed, and the significant risks associated with that investment, it is proposed that the wind farm should be privately funded and built by companies that have substantial experience of similar development elsewhere.

Many of these costs need to be estimated in advance but can go up or down over time. The future price of energy also has to be assessed in order to establish how profitable a scheme may be. With this approach the benefits of an offshore wind farm for Jersey come in different forms, and should be substantial.

The way that Jersey benefits from a wind farm will depend on choices taken in the coming years, but should include the following benefits -

• Energy security benefits. Jersey could enter a long-term contract to guarantee energy to the Island at certain prices. This could make local energy costs more stable in the future than they otherwise would be. In future, if access to energy becomes more contested, Jersey would benefit from knowing that it has secure access to its own energy.
• Economic benefits. A windfarm at this size would create energy that, at today’s prices, would be worth around £300m a year. Much of this energy could be exported, adding a new sector to Jersey’s economy. The wind farm should also create sustainable and high value jobs in the Island, such as in supporting its operations and maintenance.
• Income benefits. Developing a wind farm creates opportunities to raise income for the public purse. For example, profit made from the sale of energy would currently be taxed at 20%, and fees can be charged for access to the seabed.
• Environmental benefits. Jersey would secure guaranteed access to low carbon energy that our net zero transition requires. Exporting energy will also help other countries to decarbonise too.

Following the consultation the States Assembly decided in April 2024 that -

• Jersey should pursue the opportunities arising from the development of offshore wind in the south-west of its territorial waters.
• Development of up to 1000MW should be encouraged in order to meet the needs of islanders, power our future economy and create energy for export.
• The government should bring forward appropriate policy and legislation, in 2024, to set in place a process to lease, consent, regulate and decommission a wind farm.

The issue is discussed in detail in the Policy Centre Policy Brief Wind Farm. The Brief suggested that in the short term a better understanding of, and clarity on, a few issues is needed –

• Is there an acceptance that the role of Jersey would be limited to leasing the seabed and agreeing financial arrangements, and that it would not seek to be an operator of the wind farm?
• Is there an acceptance that it is not feasible for there to be an onshore substation in Jersey and therefore most of the electricity would land in France not in Jersey?
• As part of the leasing arrangement would the government, as suggested in the consultation, seek to require the wind farm operator to supply electricity at a fixed price to Jersey Electricity. Similarly, would it require Jersey Electricity to buy the bulk of its electricity from the wind farm, or rather would the present arrangement continue whereby the company can buy electricity from wherever it chooses?
• The economic case is predicated on old data. Over the last few years capital costs have risen while the wholesale price of wind energy has fallen. A brief analysis of the implications of these trends for the economic assumptions underlying the wind farm is needed.
• The extent to which the Government of Jersey could benefit financially from a wind farm is a complex issue. It would be helpful to have an initial analysis of the issues determining the jurisdiction in which various taxes would be liable to be paid.

Energy strategy

Any jurisdiction has an energy strategy – in some cases by design and in others by default. Typically, an energy strategy covers the trilemma - balancing affordability, sustainability and resilience. It can also cover industrial strategy where the jurisdiction is a supplier as well as consumer of electricity.

A strategy needs a clear objective and then policies designed to achieve the objective. Among possible policy leavers are –

• Banning the use of some fuels.
• Using the tax system to influence demand.
• Subsidising use of some fuels and energy saving measures.
• Diversifying supply.
• Encouraging production of specific forms of energy.

The UK’s current strategy is summarised in two documents. Powering up Britain (2023) stated -

We will build on our ambitions set out in the British Energy Security Strategy and the Net Zero Strategy for increasing the overall share of domestic energy production and reducing energy demand. We will move towards energy independence by aiming for a doubling of Britain’s electricity generation capacity by the late 2030s, and we remain absolutely committed to maximising the vital production of UK oil and gas as the North Sea basin declines.

Powering our net zero future (2020) set out ten objectives -

1: Advancing Offshore Wind

2.Driving the Growth of Low Carbon Hydrogen

3: Delivering New and Advanced Nuclear Power

4: Accelerating the Shift to Zero Emission Vehicles

5: Green Public Transport, Cycling and Walking

6: Jet Zero and Green Ships

7: Greener Buildings

8: Investing in Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage

9: Protecting Our Natural Environment

10: Green Finance and Innovation

UK policy can be summarised as: reduce demand, move towards energy independence, develop offshore wind and nuclear power, double electricity generation by 2030 and invest in carbon capture.

Jersey does not currently have an energy strategy. The Carbon Neutral Roadmap (CNR) is currently the key document in respect of energy policy. The ambitious targets to reduce emissions mean that there is an implied policy of reducing the use of fossil fuels for transport and heating and increasing the supply of electricity. However, as the Centre’s Policy Brief Carbon Neutral Roadmap notes, there are no policies that will achieve the 2030 target.

The summary in the CNR on the island energy market is set out below -

There are a number of available and emerging non-fossil hydrocarbon products and new energy sources that are entering the marketplace in all sectors. They will reach maturity and commercial availability over the next three decades and have the potential to contribute to Jersey’s decarbonisation journey. Some new products, particularly biofuels, are direct substitutes for existing fossil-hydrocarbons making transition simpler assuming supply and demand align, and prices are competitive enough to encourage uptake.

There will be a need to accommodate changes to our energy system in the future, as products change and with increased potential to democratise power generation, distribution, and storage.

There are challenges to bring new energy sources to the Island where they require new infrastructure and supply lines (for example, hydrogen).

We expect to see a decentralisation of electricity generation in the forthcoming decades, and we will need to consider the impact of this on our current electricity market and infrastructure.

As the cost of generating utility scale (offshore) renewable energy falls, we might want to consider investment to provide the Island with energy sovereignty and resilience. Jersey participates in the British Irish Council energy work stream where it is represented alongside England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the other Crown Dependencies. Jersey is represented on a number of French working groups e.g., Ille et Vilaine, La Manche, where renewable energy is a key topic due to the development of the St Brieuc windfarm in French territorial waters. There will be increased coordination across the Channel Islands with recent discussions seeking to re-establish a Ministerial working group that will identify opportunities to work across the Islands to explore the opportunities for marine renewable projects.

Responding to these related challenges requires a clear and long-term government led energy strategy with clear and accountable political leadership. A new ministerial portfolio for energy and climate change is recommended to oversee the planned energy market review, which will need to ensure our statutory and regulatory framework remains fit-for-purpose in a new energy future to balance energy affordability, sustainability, and security of supply issues.

This is not so much a strategy or policy but rather a listing of points relevant to a strategy.

The CNR stated that an Energy Strategy would be published by Q4 2023. This did not happen. The following response was given on 27 February 2024 to a Freedom of Information request -

A future-focussed Government-led Energy Strategy is an output proposed in Strategic Policy 2 of the Carbon Neutral Roadmap arising from a strategic review of Jersey’s long term energy requirements. The policy outlines consideration of, amongst other things, economic, regulatory infrastructure and land use requirements linked to future energy use; it intends to provide a process – and appropriate political governance – to develop energy market policy in a joined-up and evidence-based way. It was proposed that to support this work, government would establish new research and advisory partnerships with energy systems experts; explore opportunities to trial, appropriately, new and emerging energy solutions in Jersey; and work with the Energy Forum to solicit decarbonisation transition plans and market insights from all current Island energy providers. A new ministerial portfolio for energy and climate change was also recommended. As part of the strategic energy market policy, there was a commitment to work with our sister Islands and examine the options for utility scale renewable energy generation, to ensure a diverse, safe and resilient supply of energy to meet the Island’s future needs.

This strategy has not yet been published. However, with the establishment of a ministerial portfolio for energy within the Minister for Environment’s portfolio this has been an active area of work, with consideration and policy development being undertaken across the energy market portfolio, as described in Strategic Policy 2, that will ultimately build into a strategy. Focus has been on Council of Ministers’ development of a proposal for export scale offshore wind energy with an in-principal Report and Proposition being debated in the States Assembly in March. Such a decision would transform our energy strategy. A conclusion to this policy proposal, as well as further ongoing analysis of the energy market particularly any impacts on the LPG gas market, will allow this Government to develop an Energy Strategy.

While this response helpfully sets out some of the issues with an energy strategy it seems to imply that the States Assembly would take a firm decision to build a wind farm. In fact the Assembly agreed that “Jersey should pursue the opportunities arising from the development of offshore wind in the south-west of its territorial waters”. During the debate the Environment Minister said that the proposition did not commit the Island to building a wind farm, to any excessive expenditure, or binding Jersey into a relationship with third parties. He added that after detailed studies had taken place a decision could be reached that the concept did not work for Jersey.

So at first sight there is a firm commitment to Jersey building a wind farm and becoming an electricity exporter while the Minister’s comment was that there was no commitment other than to explore the issue.

A useful contribution to the debate is the JCRA’s Energy market study draft report consultation (June 2024) which was accompanied by a draft report Electricity Market Study by the consultants EY. This made two key points -

• Development of an offshore wind farm would fundamentally lead to the need to review electricity procurement against a backdrop of contract renegotiation with EDF in preparation for the current contract ending in 2027.
• The Jersey electricity market is expected to change significantly over the coming decade, with expected increases in electricity demand as the economy decarbonises, the renegotiation of the contract with EDF and the potential commissioning of large-scale onshore generation. It will be important to consider the implications of these changes in the Jersey electricity market as well as the role played by Jersey Electricity in this context; ensuring the electricity market and Jersey Electricity operate efficiently in an evolving market, support electricity consumer engagement, and enable a wide range of market participants to support the delivery of the Carbon Neutral Roadmap in the future.

The EY report is misleading in that it implies that Jersey Electricity has to negotiate with EDF in respect of electricity supply. In fact Jersey Electricity can negotiate with any supplier in Europe; the cables to France are not EDF cables. Also the reference to “onshore” should presumably to “offshore”.

Concluding comments

At present Jersey is in a comfortable position in respect of electricity supply. Its electricity is low-carbon, supply is resilient with three cables and back-up capability from two on-Island power stations and Jersey is paying under market prices. This latter factor will change when the current contract with EDF ends in 2027.

The four big issues that Jersey needs to address are –

• How to reduce use of fossil fuels for transport and heating, essential if the CNR targets are to be seriously pursued. Current policies are not nearly sufficient in this respect.
• How will the increased demand for electricity be met given reduced use of fossil fuels. Jersey Electricity estimates that the growth in electricity usage to meet the island’s net-zero 2050 target will increase peak demand by 25%.
• The critical decision for the Government is whether to require JE to work on the assumption that it will buy its electricity from the wind farm from when it becomes operational. This will influence the length of the contract that JE will seek to negotiate. This is a major decision that will need to be taken in the next year or so before negotiations begin, and it has huge implications. JE and its non-government shareholders would oppose such a requirement unless the Government agreed to compensate it for any additional costs above those which it would incur if it was free to negotiate with all suppliers.
• Whether there is scope for Jersey and Guernsey to work together on energy strategy.

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