Let’s get the UK energy transition exactly right

The global commitment to net zero is well underway, but translating that ambition into delivery is becoming increasingly complex.

Rising energy demand, infrastructure constraints and renewed geopolitical instability (most recently unrest across the Middle East) have brought energy security back into sharp focus.

Brodies’ report ‘Evolution not revolution: investing in the energy transition’ explores how investors, developers and corporates are responding, drawing on research with senior UK market participants and placing current investment behaviour in a broader context.

Keith Patterson specialises in new renewable energy projects

One of the clearest messages from the research is that the energy transition is not a simple handover. While renewables, grids and storage are scaling rapidly, conventional energy continues to play a material role in providing heat and transport fuels as well as maintaining electricity system resilience, supporting economic activity and underpinning the delivery of low-carbon infrastructure. Indeed, the UK Government’s clean power target in 2030 assumes that 35GW of gas-fired power will remain on the system, underpinning the continuity of the UK’s power supply.

This reflects the reality that energy systems cannot be rebuilt overnight. Skills, engineering capability and supply chains in oil and gas remain essential to delivering the UK’s energy supply for years to come. Not only that, those skills will be essential to deliver large-scale offshore wind, carbon capture and hydrogen projects. Allowing that capability to diminish too quickly risks undermining the transition.

Despite challenges - including cost of capital, supply chain strain and permitting complexity - investment momentum remains strong. Appetite continues across renewables, grids and enabling technologies, with battery storage and digital infrastructure emerging as priorities.

Storage is increasingly viewed as core infrastructure rather than an adjunct to generation. Falling battery costs and expanding revenue mechanisms support this shift, although grid constraints and pipeline saturation present immediate challenges.

In the UK, recent years have acted as a stress test for transition investing. Policy uncertainty, particularly in offshore wind, combined with inflation and infrastructure bottlenecks, challenged confidence.

According to our research, that picture appears to be improving. Policy recalibration, including reforms to the Contracts for Difference regime, has restored a measure of price realism.

However, delivery remains constrained by practical factors. Grid connection delays, planning complexity and supply chain capacity continue to shape project timelines, while fiscal uncertainty, especially around the Energy Profits Levy, remains a key consideration for investors.

Internationally, capital continues to gravitate towards markets that combine ambition with policy stability and delivery credibility. Regions such as Iberia and Asia Pacific stand out, while volatility elsewhere has cooled sentiment.

Geopolitical risk is now a defining factor. Instability is reshaping assessments of project viability, supply chain resilience and long-term returns, reinforcing the importance of diversified supply, and tilting the balance towards non-fossil fuel sources of energy as a counter-balance to fossil fuel exposure

The research concludes that the energy transition will only succeed if treated as an evolution, not a binary choice. Delivery depends on coordination, sequencing and realism: unblocking grids, retaining skills, securing finance and maintaining system stability.

The challenge is no longer whether to transition, but how to do so in a way that sustains confidence and enables long-term value. Progress is being made, but it will depend not on ambition alone, but on the ability to manage complexity over time.

Keith Patterson is a Partner, Brodies. Read Brodies’ report ‘Evolution not revolution: Investing in the energy transition’ at brodies.com/energy-transition