Partnership created to drive energy innovation in Northwest

The partners – Envirolink Northwest, the Energy Innovation Centre, Business Link Northwest and the Joule Centre, led by the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) – say that they will ascertain what energy innovation is needed to meet national and regional renewable and low carbon energy targets and how Northwest businesses can be established or expanded to meet this need.

Each partner organisation will offer different expertise: Envirolink Northwest will focus on sector and market development; The Joule Centre expertise lies in research and development; The Energy Innovation Centre provides testing and commercialisation and Business Link Northwest can provide direct support and advice to businesses.

The Northwest’s environmental and energy sectors current employ more than 50,000 people across 3,000 companies with a turnover of £6.5 billion.

Liam Fisher, sector development manager for Energy and Environment at the NWDA said:"The energy and low carbon sectors are growing rapidly in the Northwest; smart metering and smart grids are key example where the region is already developing new solutions. The partnership is very timely in securing the critical economic benefits for the Northwest and each of the partners have particular strengths, which when combined will bring considerable added value to the region."

The work of the partnership should also provide new and expanding businesses the opportunity to access the energy regulator Ofgem's energy innovation funding, as Ofgem requires that District Network Operators, such as Electricity Northwest and Scottish Power, spend a proportion of their revenue on energy innovation.

Mark Atherton, director of Environment and Energy at the NWDA said: “As one of the region’s key business sectors, the energy and environmental technologies industry needs to remain innovative to remain competitive.”