News and Views

Cumbria LEP is actively involved in all aspects of delivering Net Zero for Cumbria and can support businesses in both clean energy generation and decarbonisation activities.

Cumbria has the potential to be a major generator of clean energy for the UK and this will lead to significant opportunities for Cumbria based businesses. Examples are;

• Nuclear power ranging from small modular reactors, new nuclear technology including fusion to giga watt scale large reactors;
• Offshore wind through our existing considerable operating sites to new Irish Sea developments;
• Building a Hydrogen generation and utilisation capability from a range of clean sources;
• Building on track record to deliver a diverse range of community size energy generation projects spanning onshore wind, solar, hydro, biomass etc.

At the same time, we are keen to support Cumbrian businesses deliver decarbonisation in their current activities and are working with a number of partners to provide expertise, industry scanning and peer review. Examples of local and regional initiatives are:

Borderlands Energy Masterplan – Identifying and funding local energy schemes;

• Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership – Lottery funded programme to support all aspects of de-carbonisation in Cumbria;
• North West Energy Hub – BEIS funded programme to promote development of clean energy projects;
• Net Zero North West – A regional public and private accelerator of industrial decarbonisation.

Don’t know where to start?

CLEP’s Clean Energy Sector Panel, comprising representatives from public and private sector organisations throughout the county, continues to play a significant role in determining priority activities.

It has produced a Clean Energy work plan showing a balanced portfolio of activities that recognise its transition from a nuclear-focused body to a broader clean energy remit.

A Clean Energy prospectus is in production but recent developments have seen good progress in a number of areas, including:

• Strong application into the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) prototype fusion reactor siting process;
• Progress on robotics collaboration - the first stakeholder event for the proposed robotics and artificial intelligence collaboration capability, RAICo, was held in May. The RAICo One incubator facility is due to open this summer in Whitehaven and will focus initially on decommissioning, with Sellafield as its first use case;
• Engagement across NP11 – and specifically across North West region and North Wales – recognising the power of collaboration across sectors across UK and internationally (e.g. signed up to Sizewell C Consortium).

In addition, CLEP is helping to co-ordinate a regional input into the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow from 31 October – 12 November 2021.

Cumbrian partners will host a visit from the COP26 Battle Bus to Burneside, near Kendal, in October, part of a nationwide tour spreading the message about sustainability to British businesses.

Cumbria will also take the regional lead on a Youth and Public Empowerment event coinciding with COP26 and scheduled for November 5 and case studies highlighting Cumbrian examples of sustainable business activities will feature in the wider COP26 programme.

For more information, please contact our Head of Clean Energy, Ian Wheeler: Ian.Wheeler@thecumbrialep.co.uk