The South West has today been named the UK’s first low carbon economy zone, putting it in the vanguard of the new green industrial revolution. Stephen Peacock, executive director at the South West Regional Development Agency, explains why.
“A few days ago I found myself standing on the South West Coast Path in a howling gale being asked by a reporter why our region was at the forefront of renewable energy development.
Fortunately the prevailing force seven wind, coupled with brilliant sunshine and the steady pounding of Atlantic rollers in the distance, answered the question for me.
Because when it comes to natural resources, be it wind, solar or wave and tidal, our region is blessed with all of them in abundance.
The challenge is how we make the most of that accident of geography and harness those natural resources for the benefit of our environment and our economy.
And we have no choice but to meet that challenge because in the future there will be no such thing as a high carbon economy.
That’s why the designation by the Government of the South West as the UK’s first low carbon economic area because of our expertise in marine energy is such a tremendous boost for our region.
What it means – apart from £19.5 million of new investment – is that we are being recognised for our clear strengths when it comes to tapping the power of the sea, be it though the waves that pound our shores or the tides and rise and fall around our 700-mile coastline.
It shows the world that not only are we serious about making the transition to a low carbon economy, but we can become global leaders while doing it.
It’s no exaggeration to say that low carbon is the defining industrial opportunity of the age. Those who grasp it will capture the enormous economic rewards that stem from creating new low carbon businesses and selling our technology and services around the world. It’s a market estimated to be worth £4.3 trillion by 2015.
And we are grasping it. I’m proud that investments we have made in the region have put us in the vanguard of this new industrial revolution.
Take Wave Hub for example, the RDA’s £42 million project to create the world’s largest test bed for wave energy 10 miles off the South West coast. This week it has secured £9.5 million from the Government and £20 million from the European Regional Development Fund, which means it will be built next year.
We’ve spent seven years to get to this point and jumped through every conceivable hoop to make Wave Hub happen, because it has never been done before. What we have learned – and continue to learn – has real value in a global market.
Another investment has been the £7.3 million we are putting into the Peninsula Research Institute for Marine Renewable Energy. A collaboration between two of the region’s top universities, it has already attracted 15 world-class academics and a 60-strong research staff, who are at the cutting edge of wave and tidal energy research.
It’s probably the greatest concentration of marine energy knowledge anywhere in the world, and that makes our region even more attractive to low carbon businesses.
Yesterday also saw publication of the Government’s response to the Severn Estuary tidal power consultation held earlier this year, which is exploring the potential to harness the energy from what is (at 14 metres) the world’s second highest tidal range in the world.
Ministers have confirmed that more work is underway on the potential impact of the five schemes under consideration. They also announced the recipients of £500,000 of funding – including £125,000 from the RDA – to work up three embryonic Severn proposals that have potentially less impact on the environment than conventional technologies.
We support this work because it is only right that we fully explore how we might take advantage of an enormous natural resource while balancing the needs of the natural environment and commerce. And it creates a further pool of knowledge, experience and potential new technologies that we can export around the globe.
If you add up the investment in Wave Hub, academic research, enhanced support for start-ups and growth businesses, supply chain development, science parks, business premises and port infrastructure, the total investment in marine energy in the South West from the RDA, central Government, Europe and the private sector over the next two years will top £100 million.
That’s a huge shot in the arm for such a young industry which is arguably at the same stage that powered flight was back in 1903. And look at how far we’ve come since the Wright brothers.
As an aside, we’re also investing £10.5 million to help the region’s aerospace industry develop light-weight materials for aircraft wings and more environmentally friendly engines. It’s another example of how the South West can lead the transition to a low carbon economy.
So as we strive to create a global industry out of another by-product of our geological good fortune - the waves - it is worth remembering that we’ve done it before. Our region’s natural resources, ranging from copper and tin in Cornwall to the Somerset coalfields and Dartmoor granite quarries, made the South West a crucible of the industrial revolution.
The challenges presented by burgeoning commerce – be it in the mines, on the railways or at our ports and harbours – attracted some of the greatest innovators of the Victorian age, men such as Watt and Brunel, Davy and Trevithick.
Their innovation and knowledge was exported around the world and there is no reason why we should not follow in their footsteps as we forge a new green revolution from the power of the sea.”
Stephen Peacock is Executive Director Enterprise and Innovation at the South West Regional Development Agency.
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