A £1.14million programme to help develop local energy schemes across the Midlands will be managed jointly by the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and Nottingham City Council.
As part of its Clean Growth Strategy – published October 2017, and setting out proposals on how to reduce the level of carbon emissions produced by UK economy activities – the Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) offered grant funding to Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) and partner local authorities, to enable them to identify and help develop local energy projects.
BEIS is awarding £1.14m to establish a ‘Midlands Energy Hub’, serving the nine LEP areas and their member local authorities, across the Midlands. The programme will be managed in Nottingham and cover the wider Midlands.
An Energy Projects Manager and eight Senior Energy Project Officers will be recruited with low carbon and energy specialisms, to support the nine Midlands’ LEP areas. They will help spot and develop projects in those areas which aim to localise, increase efficient use of, and reduce the cost and waste of energy supplies; and look to make the energy technologies we use more commercially available.
Detailed design for projects identified, planning and creating a business plan for them, could then be supported by experts already working in the energy sector, in Nottingham and across the Midlands.
The Energy Project Manager for the D2N2 and Nottingham City Council programe would also work with both the Midlands Local Energy Steering Group and the national BEIS Steering Group; to ensure a ‘joined up’ approach to energy strategy regionally and nationally.
Lindsay Wetton, Senior Programme Manager at the D2N2 LEP, said: “The creation of this new Local Energy Hub will offer the D2N2 LEP area, and other Midlands Engine LEP areas, more opportunities to develop projects and a more environmentally sustainable economy.
“By working with our main commercial and public sector energy users, and maximising the technologies we have, we can put the D2N2 LEP area and wider region on the map; to showcase technologies connected with hydrogen powered vehicles, district heating systems or battery storage technology. For our Low Carbon key sector, it allows for the creation of new firms and more jobs based around ‘green’ technologies; which is a growing industry.”
The D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership is a private sector-led partnership of business, local authorities, skills and training providers, and community and voluntary services providers which promotes economic and jobs growth across Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. It is one of 38 LEPs in England, covering distinct geographical areas.
One of D2N2’s eight key sectors – ones where the LEP’s area already has or could develop a competitive advantage – is that of ‘Low Carbon Good and Services’; the growing industry in technologies and strategies which reduce energy usage, increase energy efficiency, or provide low carbon rated goods and services. D2N2 and the D2N2 Growth Hub have aided a number of low carbon sector companies in developing their commercial offer, including Nottingham-based low carbon courier service, WeGo (pictured).
For more information on D2N2 and the Low Carbon sector see web link www.d2n2lep.org/key-sectors/low-carbon
Media wanting further information about the D2N2 LEP can contact D2N2 Communications Manager Sean Kirby on 0115 957 8749 or email: sean.kirby@d2n2lep.org
