The price of electricity in the UK relative to Europe and other competitor regions has been a long running concern for energy intensive industries, hindering their competitiveness and their ability to decarbonise through electrification and the use of green hydrogen.

By underwriting ten or fifteen year power purchase agreements (PPAs) between generators and industrial users, the government could provide important industries like steel with access to cheap renewable power at a fixed price.

The steel industry would be particularly suited to this kind of arrangement and could be a test case for other sectors.

This briefing also explains how PPAs could be bundled to form a ‘greenpower pool’.