Business Secretary
examines economic impact of low carbon transition in the North East
Business
Secretary Vince Cable today (4 August) saw a renewable energy
device that can save the energy industry over £600 million in
reduced capital costs cutting carbon emissions by 37 million
tonnes by 2020.
As part of a tour of the North East to look at the economic
impact of moving to a low carbon economy, Vince Cable visited
Applied Superconductor Ltd (ASL) – based in Blyth, Northumberland
and inspected the Superconducting Fault Current Limiter.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
“The transition to a green economy presents significant growth
opportunities both in the UK and abroad. The UK has the sixth
largest low carbon economic goods and services market in the world.
“And the North East is well placed to capitalise with the
National Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) based in Blyth while
Nissan are investing £420 million to build a battery plant and
electric car production in Sunderland, securing and creating over
550 jobs.
“The number of renewable energy sources is growing rapidly
throughout the country, and Applied Superconductor Ltd is at the
cutting edge of the technology that will maximize the energy
contribution made by renewables, saving energy companies money as
well as reducing their carbon emissions.”
Vince Cable also visited two manufacturing companies Rio Tinto
Alcan and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) where he will
discuss the challenges facing energy intensive industries.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
“As part of the transition to a low carbon economy we need to
ensure that energy intensive industries remain competitive and
that we send a clear message that the UK is open for business.
“I’m visiting the manufacturing companies Rio Tinto Alcan and
SABIC today to see for myself the particular challenges they face.
“By autumn of this year, we will announce a package of measures
for businesses whose international competitiveness is most
affected by the consequences of our energy and climate change policies.
“We will work with industry on how we do this – and we’re
committed to being transparent about the costs. Last week the
Department for Energy and Climate Change published its analysis of
the cumulative cost of energy and climate change policies,
something that businesses had asked us for.”
SABIC is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of chemicals,
fertilizers, plastics and metals.
Rio Tinto Alcan’s Lynemouth plant is the largest private
sector employer in Northumberland with 630 direct jobs and around
3,000 indirect. The Lynemouth product – sheet ingot – is exported
to rolling mills in Europe where it is used in a variety of
markets including construction, packaging and print.
Notes to editors:
The Superconducting Fault Current Limiter, achieves substantial
savings through reducing energy losses and significantly improving
the quality and security of supply. Support for the device is
growing rapidly. Just last month ASL signed a £4m contract with
Rolls Royce and the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), a
public-private partnership between six global industrial companies
and the UK Government, to reduce downtime from electrical power
cuts.Last week the Department for Energy and Climate Change
published its analysis of the cumulative cost of energy and
climate change policies. It can be found at
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/about/ec_social_res/analytic_projs/price_bill_imp/price_bill_imp.aspx.
These are explicitly provisional, and are intended to inform
ongoing discussions with the industry ahead of both the full
updated costs assessment due to be published alongside the annual
energy statement in the autumn.BIS's online newsroom
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BIS Press Office
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Nick Evans
Phone: 020 7215 3496
nick.evans@bis.gsi.gov.uk