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LONDON — It was billed because the summit that will “rewire the worldwide power system” — an opportunity for Brexit Britain to guide the world as struggle raged in Europe and power costs soared.
The London Power Safety Convention was introduced to nice fanfare final August by former U.Ok. Power Secretary Grant Shapps. Shapps pledged to deliver collectively key world gamers, who would minimize offers in order that power value shocks would by no means once more catch the world unawares.
There is only one downside.
Lower than a month earlier than the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — the date with which the summit was meant to coincide — overseas diplomats and power business bosses say they’ve heard … subsequent to nothing about it.
There isn’t any confirmed venue, no clear agenda, and no invites have gone out.
“I do not know, sorry about that,” mentioned one power official in a European capital when POLITICO requested in the event that they’d obtained an invite or been briefed on the occasion.
Officers in two different European capitals additionally mentioned that they had obtained no details about the convention from British counterparts.
And two U.Ok. power business figures mentioned they, too, have heard nothing. All had been granted anonymity, like others interviewed for this story, to talk candidly concerning the authorities’s plans — or lack of them.
“I wouldn’t put it previous them to ask everybody just a few days earlier than, in the event that they needed simply home company. But when they need anyone from overseas, it must be in diaries by now, for [any event] a month away,” mentioned one of many power business figures.
Ukraine invasion
When the summit was introduced, in an interview with POLITICO, the federal government mentioned it will happen in “spring 2024 … across the time of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.” However some suspect the occasion was punted into the lengthy grass when Shapps — its lead advocate — was promoted to protection secretary simply three weeks later.
Shapps, by no means one to let an excellent headline cross him by, had efficiently lobbied Downing Avenue to let him announce the plan, mentioned one U.Ok authorities official.
“Quantity 10 mentioned ‘OK’ — however you’ve really received to do it now,” the official mentioned. As a substitute, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shuffled Shapps out of the division.
The summit is now the duty of his successor on the Division for Power Safety and Internet Zero (DESNZ), Claire Coutinho. And with ministers’ consideration fastened on a common election due later this 12 months, some doubt the occasion will ever occur.
“This appears to be like like a basic case of a minister’s random concept being quietly shelved within the hope that no-one would discover,” mentioned Adam Bell, a former head of power technique at DESNZ’s predecessor, the Division for Enterprise and Industrial Technique, and now a director of coverage on the Stonehaven consultancy.
That may be a disgrace, he added, as a result of “there are nonetheless large unanswered questions on what a safe Europe-wide low-carbon power system may appear like — and the position that the U.Ok. would play in that.”
DESNZ insist the occasion continues to be on their agenda, and level to the truth that an “power convention” was talked about in November’s King’s Speech, which set out the federal government’s program for the approaching parliamentary session.
However precise data stays obscure. “We’re engaged on plans for an power safety convention, and additional particulars will probably be shared in the end,” a DESNZ spokesperson mentioned.
‘It wasn’t precisely clear’
If it does ever occur, it’s not clear what kind the summit may now take.
In his time at DESNZ, Shapps positioned a heavy emphasis on the federal government’s hard-headed strategy to power safety, which he linked to the Conservative authorities’s plans to “max out” the U.Ok.’s North Sea oil and fuel reserves.
However in keeping with one individual accustomed to inside discussions concerning the summit, officers had been, late final 12 months, grappling with what to do with the occasion. DESNZ has thought of giving it a clearer give attention to the safety of provide chains for web zero associated applied sciences, they mentioned.
“At that time they had been questioning mainly what the entire thing was going to be about,” the individual mentioned. “It wasn’t precisely clear what the temporary was. They had been making an attempt to make one thing work.”
A second authorities official, granted anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk on file, mentioned Coutinho was eager to place her personal stamp on the summit, doubtlessly drawing on her earlier work in finance and on the Treasury by giving the occasion extra of an power funding focus.
However for now, potential invitees are nonetheless at nighttime — and considerably amused.
When it was steered that the occasion could have been introduced with no detailed plan hooked up to it, one of many European officers replied to POLITICO’s message with a “lips sealed” emoji.
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