Newsletters from No 10: 26 February 2010
Dear friends
It’s been a good week for the Government's drive to create green jobs in Britain - particularly in the manufacture of wind turbines.
As you may have seen in the papers today, yesterday Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe announced their intention to invest up to £100m in developing an offshore wind turbine R&D project in the UK, involving the creation of 200 highly skilled jobs. This project will be the first step towards the production of turbines for the next generation of offshore wind farms - where (as I reported recently) the Government's plans represent the largest offshore wind programme in the world. With this announcement the UK becomes a strong contender to be the location for Mitsubishi's manufacturing base in the future, with the potential to create up to 1500 new jobs. It follows extensive work and discussions with Mitsubishi over recent months. The Government intends to provide up to £30m to support the R&D project from the £405m Low Carbon Investment Fund. The project will include prototype assembly, and onshore and offshore testing, of Mitsubishi's 6MW turbines; the development of 'third generation' turbine technology at a new UK-based Mitsubishi Offshore Wind Centre for Advanced Technology; and the design and development of large composite wind turbine blades and associated production techniques.
Yesterday's announcement follows a week after the US firm Clipper confirmed it will start construction of a factory in Newcastle to build the biggest wind turbines (10MW) in the world, creating up to 500 jobs over the next decade. The factory is expected to be completed by the second half of this year. Clipper have also been supported in this by the Government's offshore wind investment programme, a further £8m call from which was also announced last week to support the deployment of the next generation of offshore wind technology. Over recent months the programme has provided around £18m of technology development support to companies such as Siemens, Vestas, Artemis, Burntisland Fabrications and the Teesside Alliance Group.
To accompany these developments yesterday Lord Mandelson and Ed Miliband announced new funding of £18.5m for an offshore wind test site in the North East. The site, off the coast near the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth, will act as a technology and development platform for the next generation of multi-megawatt offshore wind turbines. It complements Government support for a parallel facility in the North East which will enable the testing of blades up to 100m in length, part of a determined Government drive to ensure that the UK becomes a leading global manufacturing centre for the offshore wind industry.
And just for good measure, Centrica announced yesterday the creation of 1100 jobs in a new insulation business. This responds to the big increase in demand for home and business energy efficiency provided under the Government's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and associated policies - of which there willl be more coming very shortly…
Low Carbon Economic Areas
Another element of our low carbon industrial strategy has been the creation of Low Carbon Economic Areas, where businesses, universities and associated institutions can gain the benefits of clustering expertise, skills and facilities around particular technologies. We've announced two more in the last fortnight: the Midlands for advanced automotive enginnering and low carbon vehicles, where the Government has put a new £19m tranche of funding into research and development (for more detail seehttp://tinyurl.com/ybu7lfo); and South Wales for hydrogen energy, at the end of a 'hydrogen corridor' along the M4 (http://tinyurl.com/y9qczwb). These complement the four other Low Carbon economic Areas already announced, in the South West (wave and tidal energy), North East (ultra low carbon vehicles), North West / Yorkshire (civilnuclear supply chain) and Greater Manchester (built environment). In each area the Regional Development Agency will lead the coordination, in the specific technology areas, of infrastructure development, R&D, demonstration, planning policy, skills provision and inward investment.
Plugged-in places
And while I am at it, the Government also announced yesterday our plans to roll out a £30m network of electric vehicle charging points. London, Milton Keynes and the North East have been selected as the first 'Plugged-In Places', with 11,000 vehicle recharging points to be installed over the next three years - in car parks, supermarkets, leisure and retail centres and on the street. At the same time the Government announced plans for the Plug-In Car Grant, providing up to £5,000 for motorists to buy ultra-low carbon cars - up to 25% of the cost. The grants will be available from January 2011, by which time a range of eligible vehicles will be available in the market. A second competition for Plugged-In Places will follow later in the year. These are two of the key elements in our £450m programme to accelerate the commercialisation of electric vehicles and make the UK a centre for low carbon vehicle manufacture. Fore more detail see http://tinyurl.com/y988dv7.
With best wishes
Michael Jacobs
Michael Jacobs
Special Adviser to the Prime Minister
10 Downing St
London SW1A 2AA
It’s been a good week for the Government's drive to create green jobs in Britain - particularly in the manufacture of wind turbines.
As you may have seen in the papers today, yesterday Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe announced their intention to invest up to £100m in developing an offshore wind turbine R&D project in the UK, involving the creation of 200 highly skilled jobs. This project will be the first step towards the production of turbines for the next generation of offshore wind farms - where (as I reported recently) the Government's plans represent the largest offshore wind programme in the world. With this announcement the UK becomes a strong contender to be the location for Mitsubishi's manufacturing base in the future, with the potential to create up to 1500 new jobs. It follows extensive work and discussions with Mitsubishi over recent months. The Government intends to provide up to £30m to support the R&D project from the £405m Low Carbon Investment Fund. The project will include prototype assembly, and onshore and offshore testing, of Mitsubishi's 6MW turbines; the development of 'third generation' turbine technology at a new UK-based Mitsubishi Offshore Wind Centre for Advanced Technology; and the design and development of large composite wind turbine blades and associated production techniques.
Yesterday's announcement follows a week after the US firm Clipper confirmed it will start construction of a factory in Newcastle to build the biggest wind turbines (10MW) in the world, creating up to 500 jobs over the next decade. The factory is expected to be completed by the second half of this year. Clipper have also been supported in this by the Government's offshore wind investment programme, a further £8m call from which was also announced last week to support the deployment of the next generation of offshore wind technology. Over recent months the programme has provided around £18m of technology development support to companies such as Siemens, Vestas, Artemis, Burntisland Fabrications and the Teesside Alliance Group.
To accompany these developments yesterday Lord Mandelson and Ed Miliband announced new funding of £18.5m for an offshore wind test site in the North East. The site, off the coast near the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth, will act as a technology and development platform for the next generation of multi-megawatt offshore wind turbines. It complements Government support for a parallel facility in the North East which will enable the testing of blades up to 100m in length, part of a determined Government drive to ensure that the UK becomes a leading global manufacturing centre for the offshore wind industry.
And just for good measure, Centrica announced yesterday the creation of 1100 jobs in a new insulation business. This responds to the big increase in demand for home and business energy efficiency provided under the Government's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target and associated policies - of which there willl be more coming very shortly…
Low Carbon Economic Areas
Another element of our low carbon industrial strategy has been the creation of Low Carbon Economic Areas, where businesses, universities and associated institutions can gain the benefits of clustering expertise, skills and facilities around particular technologies. We've announced two more in the last fortnight: the Midlands for advanced automotive enginnering and low carbon vehicles, where the Government has put a new £19m tranche of funding into research and development (for more detail seehttp://tinyurl.com/ybu7lfo); and South Wales for hydrogen energy, at the end of a 'hydrogen corridor' along the M4 (http://tinyurl.com/y9qczwb). These complement the four other Low Carbon economic Areas already announced, in the South West (wave and tidal energy), North East (ultra low carbon vehicles), North West / Yorkshire (civilnuclear supply chain) and Greater Manchester (built environment). In each area the Regional Development Agency will lead the coordination, in the specific technology areas, of infrastructure development, R&D, demonstration, planning policy, skills provision and inward investment.
Plugged-in places
And while I am at it, the Government also announced yesterday our plans to roll out a £30m network of electric vehicle charging points. London, Milton Keynes and the North East have been selected as the first 'Plugged-In Places', with 11,000 vehicle recharging points to be installed over the next three years - in car parks, supermarkets, leisure and retail centres and on the street. At the same time the Government announced plans for the Plug-In Car Grant, providing up to £5,000 for motorists to buy ultra-low carbon cars - up to 25% of the cost. The grants will be available from January 2011, by which time a range of eligible vehicles will be available in the market. A second competition for Plugged-In Places will follow later in the year. These are two of the key elements in our £450m programme to accelerate the commercialisation of electric vehicles and make the UK a centre for low carbon vehicle manufacture. Fore more detail see http://tinyurl.com/y988dv7.
With best wishes
Michael Jacobs
Michael Jacobs
Special Adviser to the Prime Minister
10 Downing St
London SW1A 2AA
