This year’s Solar & Storage Live UK was a key meeting point for the energy value chain – including solar innovators and trade bodies.
While there, Solar&StorageXtra spoke with Jason Howlett, Founder and CEO of the newly established Energy Storage Association (ESA).
Howlett revealed the motivation and process behind launching the organisation, its goal of becoming the dedicated voice for the storage sector, and how to tackle significant regulatory gaps.
“We are seeing real encouragement with the policy… but the deep frustration is still the Future Homes Standard. We are still building in legacy challenges by not adding storage to new builds.”
What motivated you to found the Energy Storage Association in the UK, and what are its mission and priorities?
Creating the Energy Storage Association has been a two-year project. I had been in the industry for a number of years, deeply frustrated that storage – across the whole supply chain, from manufacturers to distribution – was always the forgotten element of solar and storage.
I spoke to several trade bodies on solar generation and consistently found this obsession with generation, with storage taking a secondary role.
There was a shared frustration with manufacturers, educators, and companies. There was a common feeling of frustration, particularly across a few areas: behind-the-meter residential and commercial/industrial storage, and long-duration storage with a geological component, such as geo-hydrogen storage.
I met Mark Coyle, now at Good Energy, and we shared this passion. We simply needed to create this body. Mark was originally planned to be the CEO, but his consultancy work made his schedule too busy. I decided to take it on, leaving GivEnergy in March to found the Association.
We achieved a good consensus among manufacturers, educators, and energy companies willing to commit funds to get us off the ground, and we have been adding members since.
What key challenges did you identify when you started, and which have been most difficult to tackle so far?
I have created and launched businesses around the world, but starting a trade body was a new and much harder challenge than a typical business. Firstly, you rely on members putting money in to help you start.
Logistically, getting a business bank account for a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, which is our structure, was almost impossible.
It took months with various banks to physically secure an account. That was the singular thing I was most frustrated about, because nothing else can work without it. You cannot have a business without banking.
Beyond that, we needed a website, promotion, and skills I didn’t have, but with no money, we couldn’t afford to do anything. We had to leverage help from some of the founders.
In the early days, it was a bit of ‘beg, borrow, and steal’ for things like legal support, with companies like Sunsynk and GivEnergy helping via their lawyers. My wife even did all the marketing and the website in her spare time.
What regulatory or policy gaps do you think are the biggest obstacles in the UK for scaling up storage deployments?
The policy side and the advocacy we are doing are huge elements. As I’ve engaged with DESNZ (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) and NESO (National Energy System Operator), they have truly embraced us because they have lacked a dedicated voice to engage with on storage.
We are seeing real encouragement with the policy, particularly the flexibility roadmap, but the deep frustration is still the Future Homes Standard. We are still building in legacy challenges by not adding storage to new builds.
Octopus has proven that with solar, a heat pump, and a battery, you can eliminate energy bills for 10 years. Why are we not making this a standard? Why are we adding generation without considering the long-term needs of the community?
Another element, which we are engaged with GB Energy on, is making this technology available to all. We are working with GB Energy, which links into work with the Treasury, so that that this technology can be available to all people, not just those who can pay.
For those who can afford it, we need to simplify the process. For example, the VAT removal on energy storage from a couple of years ago needs to be made permanent.
There are also more structural issues. The government still hasn’t fully grasped the long-duration, geological storage element and how that will work, though it is in the roadmap as a potential if we can store and generate hydrogen.
Our goal is to create a comprehensive roadmap detailing how we believe storage should play out, which NESO, DESNZ, and everyone else can refer to and work towards.
What did you discuss in your talk and panel at the show?
I spoke about energy poverty and storage’s role in tackling it, which led to great interactions with several organisations. Our Chair, Baroness Berger, delivered a keynote on the importance of storage and how we need to think about it.
A panel featured a range of stakeholders discussing the importance of storage, where we explored what we can learn from those who have gone before us.
To you, why is it important that energy storage companies and stakeholders attend Solar & Storage Live?
We are at an exciting juxtaposition! We have been pushing generation hard, and now, with the flexibility roadmap, we are starting to focus on energy utilisation, grid services, and flexibility.
We know that renewable energy generation is intermittent, but demand is constant. The only way we can manage this is through flexibility – managing our generation and storing energy. People are truly starting to get their heads around this now.
This is a great show, and I’ve been really pleased that it has embraced the Energy Storage Association since we launched.
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