More power for green revolution
Dec 10 2009 by William Green, The Journal
THE North East’s green energy revolution received a welcome boost as the Chancellor handed over £15m for the world’s largest wind turbine centre.
His Pre-Budget Report paved the way for the North East to build a new testing centre which will attract energy companies from across the globe.
But the Treasury was last night under pressure to use the green measures to safeguard jobs in the region.
Blaydon MP Dave Anderson, who sits on the energy and climate change select committee, met Treasury bosses within minutes of the Pre-Budget Report session to stress the need to help staff at Teesside’s Corus plant.
He warned the green measures would be useless if “we end up importing steel to build turbines or hundreds of miles of pipelines for carbon capture”.
Chancellor Alistair Darling also announced support for the region’s emerging electric vehicle market as incentives were offered to businesses to change their fleet to green cars.
And there was a further £30m made available for low-carbon projects, alongside an extension in wind energy incentives.
There was a suggestion as well that householders with wind turbines or solar panels on their homes who feed excess power back into the grid would receive an average of £900 back.
Added to the environmental package was news the Government is to finance four carbon capture and storage projects, giving Northumberland’s Rio Tinto Alcan the chance to bid for £1bn for green energy testing.
The £15m handed over for a wind testing facility to be run by the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NaREC), either in Blyth or North Tyneside, will allow blades up to 100m long to be tested. NaREC boss Andrew Mill said the whole region would feel the benefit of having a world leader in the region.
He said: “This is exactly the type of infrastructure we need to invest in to convince businesses to come to the United Kingdom.
“We will have the best facilities in the world for people wanting to build the next generation of wind turbines.”
A new testing facility should be up and running by the end of 2011.
Development agency One North East, which is handing over £3.5m to the centre, predicted business growth as a result of the investment.
Chairman Margaret Fay said: “It builds on significant long-term investment already made by One North East in renewable energy and in the wider low carbon sector, which have the potential to create thousands of jobs for our region.”
But the rest of the region’s manufacturing base was left without further support.
Alan Hall regional director of manufacturers’s association EEF said: “It was a disappointing budget as far as our North East manufacturing businesses are concerned.”
