Member spotlight: E.ON UK
José Davila, Director of Strategy and Sustainability at E.ON UK
With our Innovation Workshop on 29 April fast approaching, we're shining a spotlight on the member companies helping Energy Systems Nexus shape the future of energy.
This week, we caught up with José Davila at E.ON UK, where he's responsible for strategy development, innovation and sustainability.
What role does E.ON want to play in shaping the future of a cleaner energy system?
We want a cleaner energy system that works for customers as well as for the planet. The journey to this new system has to be affordable, and benefit all types of people, or it simply won’t happen. Our role as E.ON is to bring forward solutions that show how this can be done.
Why did you become a member of the Nexus?
It’s always the easiest path for organisations to “talk their own book” and argue for what benefits them, rather than what will deliver the best outcome for society overall. We wanted to support impartial research looking at what will really work best, considering the whole energy system and those who use it.
We also wanted to collaborate with others. The challenges facing the future energy system are complex and can’t be addressed by any single organisation working alone. In our wider business, we’re finding more and more that partnerships are key to our future success, so joining the Nexus fits that pattern.
What role do you think the Nexus can play in the UK’s Net Zero transition?
Energy Systems Nexus can play a key role in helping the UK understand what will be needed for a successful Net Zero energy transition. By exploring the whole energy system from a wider range of perspectives, it can deliver credible, grounded analysis, evidence and suggestions to policymakers to help them make the right decisions.
What do you hope will be achieved by bringing a diverse set of energy system actors together to co‑fund work in areas of common need?
Working with a wide range of organisations across the energy sector brings a more complete understanding of the energy system to then develop shared solutions to challenges that affect us all. Co‑funded research helps ensure recommendations are credible, balanced and widely trusted across the sector.
This kind of collaboration is essential if we are to deliver the energy transition efficiently, fairly and fast.
Nexus members are hosting an Innovation Event in London on 29 April. If you’re interested in joining other likeminded changemakers to help define how we deliver whole systems projects in the pursuit of Net Zero, please register your interest here.