Procurement & Supply Chain | National Grid Ventures

National Grid Ventures operates a broad mix of energy assets and businesses in the UK and US. With many activities bordering and crossing between regulated and non regulated. What complexity does this mix of geography, variety of assets, and regulation add to the procurement function?

Well, it can make it a little more complex. The NGV business is a little different to the core business as you’ve rightly pointed out, often wanting to work at pace and with a degree of uncertainty that a new venture will come to fruition, but that’s what makes this role interesting and varied. I’ve got a great leadership team who really know their stuff which becomes extremely useful when trying to pick up some of the technical intricacies of each category area.

In regard to regulation, that’s fairly straight forward for us in procurement as we try to apply a common set of best practice principles to both category management and strategic sourcing regardless of how category spend is regulated (or not) and whether utilities procurement regulations apply. However, there is a perception that regulated procurement processes can be overly complex so it’s still important to think laterally and be agile in our approach wherever we can be. Funding mechanisms also vary meaning our Category strategies will need to consider how each funding mechanism works and whether that limits our options (such as an inability to commit to suppliers post final investment decision) or provides further opportunity (like leveraging multi-year portfolio commitments). In some cases, we engage with OFGEM around what is happening in the supply chain with a view to amending the way we’re funded if we think it will provide us with additional strategies that will benefit the end consumer. has already imported enough green energy to offset the carbon cost of construction.

It’s important that my team can understand all of the various business drivers at play within the business units we work with and assimilate those insights to create coherant category strategies that utilitise our category management principles and exhaust a full range of value levers in order to deliver value for the organisation..

Interconnectors are enabling the UK to connect to Europe and drive towards a net zero future. With an estimation that 90% of all energy via the interconnectors by 2030 will be from zero carbon sources the ongoing expansion of the interconnector network is key to National Grid and the UK’s goals. The latest Interconnector – North Sea Link has just come online. Connecting the UK to Norway is a significant feat, this six-year project is a great example of partnership and collaboration. It is also a great example of the role procurement plays in driving complex projects. Can you offer an insight into this project and why procurement had the seat at the table from day one?

NSL is certainly a project the NGV Team is really proud of, currently the longest subsea Interconnector in the world, powering 1.4m homes, which after six months in operation has already imported enough green energy to offset the carbon cost of construction.

As you will appreciate, building a new Interconnector takes time, approximately six years from start to finish when considering the Business Case, Planning, Consenting, Surveys, Design, EPC Procurement, Construction, and all being well, Operations. Therefore, the procurement for NSL was delivered a number of years before my time so unfortunately, I can’t take any of the credit for all the hard work the Procurement team put in, however what I can say is, all of our Interconnectors in NGV and HVDC links in the ET business are in collaboration with JV partners and therefore the relationship with our partners is essential. Delivering a procurement event of this size and scale requires a number of key ingredients to make it successful; a common purpose and set of clear outcomes, and a team ethic along with a willingness for collaboration when navigating differing opinions along the way!

Timelines for these large scale projects are also imperative and with procurement being one of the largest lead time activities outside of planning, consenting and construction it’s really important procurement lead the sourcing process exceptionally well, introducing the right business skills and expertise from around the organisation throughout the event whilst also engaging with members of the Joint Venture Executive Group at the critical points in time to influence and advise on key decisions and risks.