Date : 23/09/2025 | Time : 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm |
This talk will be on Zoom. The talk is free but you do need to book a place to get access details. Please ignore references to payment. Scroll to the end of this page for the booking form.
The new government has pledged to make the UK a “clean energy superpower”, but what does that mean in reality? And will it turn out to be any more successful than previous governments’ pronouncements? We have known for 20 years that we were exiting coal, that North Sea oil and gas were running down, that our nuclear power stations were reaching the end of their design lives and that we were increasingly reliant on other countries for natural gas. But have we done enough to address the fundamental energy shortfall? Renewables have started to make a significant contribution but wind and solar have the recognised problem of intermittency. Delays in planning consents, politically charged debate and policy swings have delayed new projects. Meanwhile the new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point is already 4 years behind schedule (and comparable plants in Finland and France came on stream 12 to 14 years later than planned). At the same time carbon capture and storage which was ruled out as a mitigating technology some 20 years ago is now set to receive £22bn investment. All of this is in the context of the move to electric transport and heating (heat pumps) plus the massive requirements of data centres and AI which will hugely increase demand for electricity. New businesses seeking to connect to the Grid often have to wait years for this to happen, delaying the launch of the businesses and discouraging business investment in the UK.
What should a successful energy policy for the UK include and how can it be delivered?
Harkness Fellow Anna Dixon with lead a conversation between Harkness Fellows Dr Robert Barr, Sir Steven Cowley and Michael Liebreich, followed by general discussion with participants.
Speaker biographies
Anna Dixon (HF 2005-6) is the MP for Shipley. She has worked at a national level on the NHS and social care over the past 20 years, influenced national plans and secured changes to policy on housing, employment support and industrial strategy. She chaired an independent commission on reimagining care set up by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, and has held senior roles at Helpforce, The King’s Fund, the Department of Health, and Centre for Ageing Better.
Dr Robert Barr OBE (HF 1992-3) is an urban and social geographer specialising in geographic information. His Harkness Fellowship was based at the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis University of California Santa Barbara 1992-1993. Robert was awarded an OBE for services to Geography in 2008 and is a visiting professor at Liverpool University. He is currently chair of Lymm Community Energy and previously chaired Caribou, an affordable warmth company founded by two major housing associations. He spent 18 years as a councillor on Warrington Borough Council, including a period as Cabinet Member responsible for housing, that saw a substantial proportion of Warrington’s housing fitted with solar panels and other energy saving measures.
Sir Steven Cowley, (HF 1981-3) a theoretical physicist and international authority on fusion energy, became the seventh Director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and a Princeton professor of astrophysical sciences in 2018. Steven was previously president of Corpus Christi College and professor of physics at the University of Oxford, chief executive officer of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) and head of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. He earned his doctorate at Princeton University in astrophysical sciences in 1985 and was a staff scientist at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory from 1987 to 1993. From 2011 to 2017 he was a member of the UK prime-minister’s Council on Science and Technology. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering, and was knighted in June 2018.
Michael Liebreich (HF 1988-9) is managing partner of EcoPragma Capital and CEO of Liebreich Associates. He is an honorary fellow of the Energy Institute and visiting professor at Imperial College London. Former roles include member of the UK’s Taskforce on Energy Efficiency, chairing the subgroup on industry, an advisor to the UK Board of Trade, an advisor to the UN on Sustainable Energy for All, a member of the board of Transport for London and founder of BloombergNEF. Michael is a sought-after keynote speaker and panelist on all matters relating to the net zero transition. During the pandemic of 2020 where travel was restricted, Michael started a podcast and YouTube channel called Cleaning Up, where he hosts in-depth conversations with leaders and experts in climate change and its potential solutions. Michael serves on too many advisory boards to list, is a prolific speaker and writer, and is known to make the occasional angel investment.
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