The energy transition: why the safety risks must be managed

When the UK Government announced its ambitious energy transition programme to deliver a decarbonised electricity system by 2030, this brought the energy transition into renewed focus, with plans to accelerate investment in the industry.

Photograph: Draeger

However, the practical reality behind the headlines is that to meet ambitious timeframes, safety must be prioritised. Without comprehensive safety procedures in place, there is a very real risk of setbacks, particularly in the area of investment, which may impact the ability to meet the Government’s 2030 goal.

There are five key safety areas which we believe must be addressed as the energy transition starts to accelerate.

1. Challenging perceptions

Unlike the oil and gas sector, many people view green energy and the wider energy transition industries as ‘clean, green and safe’. This is perhaps hardly surprising, when the messaging and visual images used to portray the industry are often associated with green, nature and the natural world.

The reality is that the safety risks involved in many areas of the energy transition are not vastly dissimilar to those faced in the oil and gas sector.

Indeed, research carried out by Strathclyde University¹ found that injuries in the offshore wind sector were up to four times higher than in offshore oil and gas, a trend which the research anticipates will continue due to growth and the implementation of new technologies.

There are a series of steps to be taken between the perception of risk, the acceptance of actual risk, and the development of trust in the safety of the industry. The latter end goal can only be built upon good experiences and a lack of dramatic incidents.

Understanding and accepting safety realities is therefore a vital priority for those operating in the clean energy sector, and every opportunity should be taken to encourage the transfer of safety knowledge from other, legacy industries.

It is clear from the increasing enquiries to Draeger Safety UK from operators in the clean energy sector that businesses are actively seeking knowledge and guidance. And while most people would agree that a move away from a carbon-based economy should be carried out as quickly as possible, this must not be at the expense of safety. Failure to adequately consider the safety of the energy transition industries – particularly in the rush to achieve the Government’s new date for decarbonisation – may well lead to setbacks which have the potential to harm the overall goal of reducing carbon emissions and protecting the planet for future generations.

2. Putting safety first

The safety industry has a key role to play in communicating the need for rigorous safety standards across renewable energy industries, in line with the mature and well-advanced safety standards in the oil and gas industry.

We firmly believe that the success of renewable energy will depend on confidence and trust in this industry, and therefore having comprehensive safety measures in place is a vital component to building and maintaining public confidence, and to ensure that it is seen as a safe and dependable energy source for the future. Any significant safety incident that erodes this trust could be damaging, and also have consequences for future investment.

Megan Hine is energy transition lead at Draeger Safety UK. Photograph: Draeger

Finance will be key to meeting the Government’s decarbonisation plans, and experts believe that investment will need to be boosted by a further £48 billion. Cornwall Insight², one of the leading energy forecasters, has warned that hitting the proposed decarbonisation target would require a major ‘step-change’ to close the current renewable investment gap.

Having comprehensive safety standards in place has a key role to play in securing trust and confidence in the long-term viability of investments, acting as an enabler to acquire finance, insurance and planning.

3. More research and development (R&D) collaboration

With a growing emphasis on the need for innovation to help reduce the global reliance on fossil fuels, many of the advances being seen in the energy transition are new to market, and in some cases, not yet widely tested.

While this type of innovation is an important – and indeed unavoidable – element of the energy transition as a whole, it also presents significant challenges from a safety perspective.

With such innovation, it is vital for industry to recognise the importance of partnering with those at the forefront of research in the space. As such, partnerships with academia – as well as actively supporting those in a position to research frontier safety risks, particularly in areas where we need to understand more about the risks – are an important area for industry to consider.

For example, Dräger has been working with the University of Aberdeen for several years to support its research into hydrogen and renewable energy, both in providing understanding of the safety risks to students and working to advise on safety technology installations for the University’s hydrogen lab. Once complete, the lab will provide a safe environment for their energy transition research.

Furthermore, the very nature of R&D is to encourage blue-sky thinking, often through highly interdisciplinary and disruptive solutions – something that is not necessarily easy to do, or indeed possible, in an industry setting.

The key to success with industry and academia/R&D alignment is to make sure that the focus is not purely on what is possible, but what is feasible: if technology costs too much, particularly in an early-stage or low margin industry, it will not be adopted.

Collaboration of this kind is essential to enable the development of industry-leading uniform safety protocols and recognised safety standards – which will play a critical part in the evolution of safety in the sector.

4. Embrace the potential of technology and artificial intelligence (AI)Technology and AI is an area that offers positive potential for safety considerations in the energy transition.

Examples include the possibility for AI to be used to train systems and operators into safer processes, discriminating and acting on alarms, etc. This is particularly relevant in complex environments or processes that involve chemical transformations (such as electrolysis) or physical processes (such as hydrogen transport). Because some electrolyser technologies are extremely sensitive to stability of power supply, AI could be used to perform calculations to ensure that the electrolysers are achieving optimum efficiency and performance.

In addition, advances in the technology involved in remote satellite observation and remote monitoring of (potentially very sophisticated) safety systems – already present in a range of safety technology, including gas and flame detection devices – offers huge potential. Such advancements challenge some of the existing assumptions about issues such as the siting of large energy processing factories or other energy facilities. With advances in digital and connected technologies, it may be possible, for example, to take large energy processing factories away from heavily populated areas.

At a more fundamental level, better and more connected technology, as well as better user interfaces, offer the potential to make safety easier: easier for managers or those with overall safety responsibility to monitor colleagues and more quickly identify potential issues, and easier for colleagues to be alerted to hazards in the vicinity in which they are working.

5. Safety must keep pace and respond to new intelligence 

As mentioned earlier, we need to understand the risks involved but currently there is a very limited track record. New technology and techniques are being constantly developed within the renewables sector so there is an element of the unknown when it comes to safety.

Photograph: iStock/BulentBARIS

The rapid growth of these new clean energy technologies and industries requires the safety sector to keep pace, to address constantly evolving safety requirements and to put in place comprehensive safety training for employees. This is particularly important where new energy technologies differ from the traditional oil and gas sector, and largely centres around improving our understanding of the unique risks – for example, using EV batteries and storage of carbon dioxide.

Once again, partnership between industry and academia will be vital to ensure that the latest intelligence is used effectively to keep people safe as the industry evolves.

Until recently, the industry talked about the ‘Energy Trilemma’, maintaining the balance of sustainability, affordability, supply security and energy reality. This has now evolved into the ‘Energy Quadrilemma’, with the addition of protecting people and assets. Significantly, safety holds relevance within all four elements of the quadrilemma which, once again, highlights the essential role safety plays in the energy transition. The safety aspects are:

1. Energy security: to avoid shutdowns in energy supply by preventing accidents and power shortages.

2. Environment sustainability: to avoid damage to natural resources.

3. Economic viability: to save costs for repair and – in a major accident – protect investments by retaining industrial trust and promoting standardisation for international trade.

4. Social justice: the perception of both local communities and wider society will be paramount to people’s acceptance of these new technologies worldwide; the negative effects of accidents can polarise and obscure the obvious benefits (and urgency) of renewable projects.

The bottom line is that if the energy transition does not get safety right first time, incidents like recent battery related fires will lead to difficulty getting planning permission, insurance, investment and public backing. If we as an industry get safety wrong the first time, society will pay dearly. Safety does not need to hinder progress, nor speed of deployment. Instead, getting safety right will ultimately speed things up both now and in the long term.

Megan Hine is energy transition safety lead at Draeger Safety UK.

For more information see:

draeger.com/en_uk/Safety/Clean-Energy-Solutions

References

1. Offshore wind H&S: A review and analysis, David Rowell, David McMillan, James Carroll, January 2024, tinyurl.com/39vxtxwa

2. Solar and wind ‘will miss 2030 clean energy target without £48bn funding’, The Guardian, July 2024, tinyurl.com/5n8vs2hh