The Topical Talks panel was asked to consider the question of whether the energy sector should be opened up to enable other companies and new technologies to fully participate.

The question came from Ian Plenderleith, group managing director of Manx Gas, who said the time is right to look at developments that are happening generally across the entire energy sector.

He was asking how the island could benefit from greener industries with people and organisations who want to enter this sector and see that they can start to participate and bring technological developments and to grow clean tech and green energy services across the island.

He asked the panel if the island was interested in doing more to play a role in the development of renewable behind the meter energy solutions for businesses and domestic properties.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said he recognised the climate change emergency earlier on in the year and a report by Professor Curran should be available by the January sitting of Tynwald and we will have to look at ’how we eventually change the way we heat and use electricity in vehicles, houses and buildings and how we get ourselves to a carbon neutral set-up’.

Professor Curran is a distinguished climate scientist and former chief executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency who was appointed as the independent chairman to lead the Isle of Man’s climate change action plan.

Mr Quayle said: ’You can’t have tablets of stone but everything is on the table.

’I’m more than happy to look at it, but government can’t fund everything, it will have to be private sector and the government (working together) to go on this journey.

’We’re different in many ways to the likes of Jersey and Guernsey who get their electricity from nuclear power in France.

’I like the fact that the Isle of Man is self-sufficient.

’I would not want to be in the position where we are reliant on an off-island provider bringing electricity in like Jersey and Guernsey. It’s quite ironic - they say they are greener than us because they count their nuclear power as green and no carbon.’

Mr Quayle agreed they were going to have to look at green technology ’but my only concern is the costs of production’.

He asked the panel to bear in mind that the MUA, ’when I came along’ had debts of £240 to £260 million, I’m sure the majority of it was the result of the new gas pipeline, the power station etc etc. We now have £70 million of that in a bond and we are on track to pay all of that back by 2030-2033.

He said the question has to be raised of whether there is enough volume of electricity usage to cover giving a return on the capital. ’That is my concern and if that can be shown to overcome and it will work then fine.’

Gary Lamb, chief executive of Manx Telecom, said he thought it would be a great idea to have more competition in the energy sector.

Mr Plenderleith said there were a lot of hybrid solutions, such as solar/gas, solar storage/gas and solar/wind/storage etc.

And there was also the question of community energy schemes that could be looked into.

Mr Quayle said that with the carbon change plan they will have to formulate, ’there is no magic wand’ to get carbon neutral.

’We have got to look at our energy strategy and I’ve an open mind.

’I’d love to see 100% green generation in the future but regarding the way forward, I have no preconceived ideas. But I know we have got to change. If someone comes up with another idea that makes sense, but my number one concern is looking after the people of the Isle of Man, the taxpayer.’

Nigel Simpson, head of international markets at Zurich International, said ’the kids of today are demanding green energy and zero, low carbon.

’It’s not going to be ’’should we, shouldn’t we or when do we’’.

’That revolution is just going to hit us. And the Isle of Man is in a great place because it is relatively small, it has got space and it could decide to go organic almost overnight if it wanted to.’

He added that the ’whole green energy thing is just going to come and you just need to see how you are going to tackle it now.’

Mr Quayle repeated that the question remained of how such changes would be funded.

Seamus Nugent, managing director, Dandara, said there was no cheap solution for green energy and it will be difficult for a small jurisdiction like ours to solve

Mr Plenderleith acknowledged that they were talking about a global problem, with issues such as greenhouse gases and global warming.

’It’s not going to be solved overnight and probably not in my lifetime. So it requires planning, and longer term solutions, so it is about managing a transition over a longer period of time to improve sustainability, security of supply and affordability.’

He mentioned natural gas reserves off the island and a company had permission to carry out seismic studies and whether the island would look to use these reserves a means of helping to manage the energy transition.

Mr Quayle stressed that the island could not ’pile a load of debt on our young people’ and he was cautious that there was no money tree or a magic wand over green energy initiatives, which he supported.