The right person, in the right place, at the right time…
From New South Wales, to the North East of Scotland, Tavis Potts has come a long way to spearhead the University of Aberdeen’s new Centre for Energy Transition (CET).
The Australian has spent much of his career researching how people and institutions approach sustainability and the fair use of environmental resources, helping communities maximise the benefits arising from emerging green industries.
Arriving in Scotland in 2006, Tavis worked with the Scottish Association for Marine Science where he studied how coastal communities could capitalise on the growing use of marine renewables.
In 2014 he moved to the University as a senior lecturer in Environmental Geography, and now finds himself as the right person, in the right place, at the right time, as Aberdeen looks to a future beyond oil and gas.
Tavis believes that through the CET, whose mission is to bring the power of interdisciplinary research to bear on the climate crisis and the shift to Net Zero, the University is uniquely placed to play a leading role.
“One of our strengths is the strong research tradition on energy that is now orientating towards transition.
“We have a very strong culture of research centres across our schools working on topics such as renewable technologies, energy storage, energy geosciences, energy systems modelling, hydrogen, data and AI, energy markets, decommissioning, energy law and economics and climate impacts and governance.
“The approach of the centre is to pull together all the diverse strands of this research, identify our key strengths and ensure we are connected into societal demands.”
Central to this vision is the concept of the ‘Just Transition’ – ensuring that communities can maximise the benefits of the move to a low carbon economy in a fair and sustainable way.
This is particularly relevant prescient in Aberdeen, where 50 years of the North Sea oil and gas industry means the area is well placed to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the Energy Transition.
“It is a scientific, technical, economic and societal challenge,” Tavis said. “We need to bring communities with us on this journey, as without a strong civic commitment to energy transition we will simply not succeed in the uptake of new technologies that require significant changes in policy and societal acceptance.”
Operating under eight themes spanning multiple disciplines, the structure of the CET is designed to align to regional (North East of Scotland) and global opportunities, particularly on how regions transition from carbon intensive to low carbon economies. This falls under the broader goal of supporting delivery of the Scottish & UK Net Zero target and the global objective to limit warming to well below 2°C.
With 16 academic staff appointed as champions, themes include Renewable Generation, Carbon Capture & Natural Capital, Hydrogen economy, Oil and Gas in Transition, Circular Economy, Integration and Digitalisation, Demand & Markets and Energy System Governance.
“What is particularly exciting about CET is the strong feeling of interdisciplinary collaboration across the themes and Schools, how energy transition cuts across a wide array of research disciplines and how social transformation and governance is a central component of our approach.
“The social sciences and humanities are there alongside the physical, natural, earth and engineering sciences – it is this collective effort between academia, industry, government and society that is needed to address the climate challenge, at scale and within the next decade.
“Another strength of the University is our long-term connection to the energy industry in Aberdeen and beyond. We have global connections to our graduates and alumni all working in industries and governments that have a common challenge about how to meet our collective climate goals, decarbonise our economies and develop green growth strategies. It is an enormous resource that we have.”
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