Into the crystal ball

As I hunker over my solar powered crystal ball (but using energy from my hybrid gravity-lithium ion-compressed air-pumped hydro micro storage system, because it’s night, and all the best crystal ball gazing is done at night), what future do I see for myself (a humble specialist grid connections consultant) in the hazy post net-zero future? I direct my will to the crystal ball to show me my FES (future employment scenarios).

The mists inside the ball coalesce and a utopian vision catches my breath. I lie by the side of a pool, pina colada in my hand, as the warm ocean breeze from the tropical beach below ruffles my naturally golden hair (the bald spots have somehow disappeared). I think back to the clever renewable technology investment choices which allowed me to purchase my third (or was it my fourth?) villa, and ponder what I will say as I accept my Nobel Prize for services rendered, not just to the energy sector, but to the entire world.

The mists swirl again, the pool disappears and an Atwoodian-Wellsian dystopian nightmare fills the ball. I feel like Pippin looking into Stone of Orthanc at Lord Sauron himself (LotR geek time). I want to scream and tear myself away, but I can’t move. All I see (I want to shut my eyes) is my LinkedIn profile, my cursor moving across the screen as my status changes to #OpenToWork. I see my career flash before my eyes – connection after connection, MW after MW, fighting tooth and nail to find the last of the capacity until…no more generation was needed. The last wind turbine was erected (somewhere in the Highlands, as English planning laws still hadn’t been relaxed). Net-zero achieved, no more connections required. I see, through the power of the ball, developer after developer lining up at the job centre, and DNO connections teams writing their CVs.

The horror that had gripped my heart relaxed its grasp as the mists once more spun in the ball to reveal one last vision of the future. It was neither utopia nor dystopia, but something in between (miditopia, neutratopia, equitopia, centrutopia…? Maybe let’s just call it normal life). To my surprise, I’m still working. I’m working on additional large-scale wind to replace the gas plants, looking to replace energy from waste plants with small modular nuclear reactors (due to lower levels of waste going to landfill), and dreaming about how to connect the first nuclear fusion generator required to power the new hyperloop across the Atlantic (I think the ball glitched at this point).

The ball goes dark and I cover it with a black velvet cloth (it must be black velvet). Maybe none of the visions are correct. But one thing’s for sure: the energy sector will not be the same after net-zero. It’s only about 100 years ago that the electricity grid first started to take shape. The first commercial scale wind farm in the UK was only installed at Delabole, Cornwall, in 1991. This industry has kept changing and will keep changing, so I better be ready to change with it.

I put on my cap which says ‘Thinking’ across the front, put a plain piece of paper on my desk and write the title: How to prepare myself for a net-zero future. I’m going to try and be ready.