Octopus has been inspired by Indian energy company Sterlite Power, which has used cutting-edge computer software in India and Brazil to design power grid projects in a way that saves time and money.
It does this by mapping projects to avoid areas where it will be complicated to secure planning permission or where there will be large numbers of potential objectors, which prevents schemes from becoming bogged down by delays and opposition.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Jackson argued that more competition in Britain would encourage the market to come up with innovative ways to satisfy local opposition and could even result in fewer pylons needing to be built overall.
He said: “There’s increasing support for this idea that there’s more than one way to skin a cat.
“If we could find ways to build power infrastructure that are faster and cheaper, who wouldn’t want it?
“In these areas where people are worried about pylons, there can be ways of building infrastructure where there might be less community resistance.”
Asked whether Octopus would seek to build electricity infrastructure itself, he confirmed: “We’ve been talking with Ofgem about the possibility.
“There are so many different routes you could use, so many different construction technologies, and different ways of solving it, for example, in an area where people don’t want this infrastructure. It is ripe for innovation.”
Onshore transmission infrastructure has long been the monopoly of the National Grid. However, the same is not true for offshore grid infrastructure – the cables used to transport power from offshore wind farms back to the mainland. This part of the market is open to competition.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
