Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate ChangeMichael Liebreich, Bryony WorthingtonAll episodes
What’s The Cost Of Being Unprepared? | Deep Dive Ukraine 05: Ben Parsons
Through nearly five years of war, Ukraine has been forced to adapt on the fly as attacks target its energy infrastructure, and the country has been ingenious in finding new ways to generate, distribute and protect power. Its experience has exposed vulnerabilities in the rest of Europe’s energy systems, and raises the difficult question of how well prepared our own energy systems are for disruption.
In the fifth episode of our Deep Dive Ukraine series, Michael Liebreich is joined by Ben Parsons, Partner at Oaklin, who travelled with Michael on his recent delegation to Kyiv. Together, they reflect on what they saw and heard in Ukraine, from the extraordinary efforts to keep the electricity system running under attack to how Ukraine has been forced to adapt its energy system at extraordinary speed.
From standardising equipment and making repairs easier to scaling up smaller, more distributed energy assets and better-protected infrastructure, they explore how Ukraine is building resilience in the face of relentless pressure. They also consider what the UK and other countries can learn from this experience, and why resilience needs to be built into energy systems now, rather than waiting for a crisis.
Topics covered in this episode:
- What Michael and Ben learned from their visit to Ukraine
- Keeping the energy system running under sustained attack
- Rebuilding and repairing critical infrastructure during wartime
- The case for decentralised and flexible energy generation
- Why standardised equipment and spare parts matter
- What the UK and Europe can learn from Ukraine’s experience
- Building resilience into future energy investment
- The role of international support, expertise and investment in Ukraine’s reconstruction
Leadership Circle:
Cleaning Up is proud to be supported by its Leadership Circle. The members are Actis, Alcazar Energy, Arup, Climate Imperative Foundation, Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Cygnum Capital, Davidson Kempner, EcoPragma Capital, EDP, Eurelectric, KKR, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, National Grid, Oaklin, Octopus Energy, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Schneider Electric, SDCL and Wärtsilä.
Past Deep Dive Ukraine Episodes:
- Episode 1: Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, Sorina Seitvelieva, Emine Emirsalieva, Oleksandr Kozhukhar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOUyb3yH_Hc
- Episode 2: Andrii Gerus & Dmytro Boroday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSe29KFUjAU&t=6s
- Episode 3: John E. Herbst: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeF5FSvOE4g&t=1s
- Episode 4: Vitalii Zaichenko and Volodymyr Kudrytskyi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nzhqwMgg5Y
Links:
- Ben Parsons’ bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/1benparsons/
- Oaklin: https://www.oaklin.com/
- Amory Lovins on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BtpbmDBGFQ
- Amory Lovins Book, Brittle Power: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Brittle-Power-Energy-Strategy-National-Security/32111337721/bd
- Roger Dennis on Cleaning Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CELQT31riDE
- Oleksandr Tolokonnikov’s book, Unbreakable Kherson: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unbreakable-Kherson-Ukrainian-Wartime-Resilience/dp/B0H6CYRFH7
- UK Friends of Ukraine: https://friendsofukraine.uk/
- DiXi Group report on Ukraine’s resilience: https://dixigroup.org/en/analytic/holding-the-grid-ukraines-energy-resilience-playbook/
- Subscribe to the Cleaning Up Newsletter: https://cleaninguppod.substack.com/
Acronyms:
- NESO: National Energy System Operator
- EVs: Electric Vehicles
- PPE: Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Chapters:
- 00:00 Intro
- 06:08 Why Visit Ukraine?
- 10:04 Connecting With Ukraine
- 15:09 Europe's Hybrid Threats
- 20:00 Practical Support
- 24:02 Cost of Resilience
- 28:03 Infrastructure Risks
- 33:05 UK Energy Security
- 36:04 Lessons From Ukraine
- 38:05 Life During War
- 41:50 Outro
