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Tu e s d ay, N ove m b e r 15, 2011
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Grants to help stimulate
growth of small firms SMALL businesses in northern Lincolnshire could benefit from a share of £95 million of Government investment to help boost growth and rebalance the economy. The funding is expected to create at least 4,000 jobs and unlock about £500 million of new investment by small and medium businesses. Banks RBS, NatWest and HSBC have agreed to facilitate the distribution of the pot, which forms part of the Regional Growth Fund ( RG F ) .
KEY FACTOR: Local manufacture of wind turbines in the Humber region will drive down costs.
Humber well placed to lead energy revolution T
he Humber is well placed to take the lead and help deliver the economies of scale required to drive
down the cost of offshore wind.
That is the view of Maria McCaffery MBE, chief executive of RenewableUK, the country’s largest wind and marine energy a s s o c i at i o n .
Speaking to Business Telegraph
at the organisation’s annual conference and exhibition, at which Secretary Of State For Energy And Climate Change Chris Huhne launched a vigorous defence of the industry, Mrs McCaffery underlined the importance of a cluster approach when it comes to lowering the price of power production.
Well aware of the plans to provide
manufacturing and other supply chain facilities, as well as immediate deep water access at Able UK’s Marine Energy Park at North Killingholme, the operations and maintenance upsurge in Grimsby and Hull’s Siemens-led waterside intentions, the key Government lobbyist said: “We remain committed to driving down costs, and delivering a secure supply of clean electricity to millions of households throughout the UK, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the low-carbon revo l u t i o n .
“We are leading the world. We
by Dave Laister Business Editor
dave.laister@
gsmg.co.uk
have 1,500MW already in the water. What tools do we have in the kit to drive costs down? Quite a few. Local manufacture, that is the biggest. That will protect us from exchange rate risk, which saw a 30 per cent increase in cost of onshore wind turbine prices in 2008-09.
“The next biggest is economies of
scale. The more we build, the bigger the factories need to be, and the more we drive down the cost of manufacture and deployment. We also have technological developments, such as Siemens’ 6MW nacelle, which is direct-drive and has no gearbox. The less there is inside it the less it costs to make and the less there is to go wrong, which makes it cheaper to operate and maintain.”
Asked about a cluster approach, Mrs McCaffery said: “T he immediate advantage is reduced transport costs, and when you are talking about moving huge heavy pieces of kit it is hugely significant when you consider not just the numbers, but the need for police escorts and the like.
“It is a case of location, location,
location. If areas are developing port facilities and remodelling existing ports, that do tend to have lots of significant space available
ADVANTAGES: Maria McCaffery.
for certain activities such as lay-down of towers, repair facilities, etc, I think it is going to make a lot of sense for clusters to be built up.
“The Humber is very well placed to take advantage of just that. A total of 65 per cent of the identified capacity for the whole of the UK offshore wind energy is off the east and south east coast of England.”
Training plays a key part in a
cluster too. Mrs McCaffery said: “This must include skills investment too, and the importance of human capital. It justifies the investment because the long term real benefit is long term employment in good-quality c a re e r s. ”
Of the Humber Local Enterprise
Par tnership’s mammoth renewable energy focused enterprise zone success, Mrs McCaffery: “I think there is real potential there and it is one we need to explore for the purpose of exploiting.”
In his speech at the event in Manchester, Mr Huhne, highlighted the 9,000 jobs created and the £1.7 billion invested in the renewables sector in this financial year alone. He said renewable energy technologies would deliver “a third industrial revolution every bit as profound as the first t wo ”.
He also criticised what he called
“the curmudgeons and faultfinders who hold forth on the impossibility of renewables” describing them as “an unholy alliance of short-termists, armchair engineers, climate sceptics and vested interests who are selling the UK economy short”.
Mrs McCaffery said: “T he
secretary of state’s emphatic defence of the renewables industry will provide a welcome and timely boost for everyone working in this dynamic sector.
“We ’re proud he chose to make
such a strong declaration of support at our annual conference. His words reflect the determination of those working in the renewable energy sector to build Britain’s low-carbon e c o n o my. ”
It is used to stimulate
areas that rely on public sector employment, and as part of a separate round has already this past month accepted multi-million pound bids from North Lincolnshire Council as part of the recovery plan for the Tata Steel job losses, BOC at Stallingborough, and a Dublin-based plastics company looking to set up a manufacturing plant in Grimsby. RBS and NatWest will facilitate £70 million and HSBC will handle the remainder on a not-for-profit agreement. Business Minister Mark Prisk said: “T hese
FUNDING: Business Minister Mark Prisk.
schemes will directly help SMEs that want to invest and create new jobs. They will deliver a shot in the arm to local communities and help small businesses drive local growth. “100 per cent of the RGF funding will be
provided as grants to small businesses with the banks employing their regional networks to administer the schemes for free.” Small businesses, which are normally unable to secure commercial funding for their project, have the potential to benefit. it will cover new capital assets such as plant and machinery, and projects to create new employment. Grants of up to £500,000 will be awarded alongside the award of a new bank loan on commercial terms.
Taskforce offer to BAE
JOHN Clugston has offered his advice and experience as chair of the Tata Steel taskforce to bosses at British Aerospace in Brough. A total of 900 jobs are under consultation on the north bank, and the pledge came as the interim chairman of the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership welcomed his successor, Lord Christopher Haskins. Mr Clugston said: “I have offered to give our thoughts to BAE. If it follows our experience in setting a task force up, it can help them to deal with what they are facing.” It has also emerged that about 40 people have
applied to join the LEP board. The interview process has begun now Lord Haskins is in place as chairman.
Mr Clugston said: “I very much want to be still involved, having started it and got through the first phase, which I think we conducted remarkably well.”
CONTENTS: Profile P4 Energy P8-9 Chemicals 10-11 Food 12 Business Support 14 Business Solutions 15 Ports & Logistics 16 Training 18 Diary 19 Commercial Vehicles 20 Commercial Property 23-30
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