Northwest plugs into energy growth

A new 25-turbine offshore wind farm at Crosby, on Merseyside, is the latest demonstration of the Northwest's booming energy and environmental technologies sector.

The Burbo Bank Wind farm, visible on the horizon from the Crosby coast, will provide enough power for 80,000 households. The site was chosen for its good average wind speed, shallow water and good seabed conditions - and because of the success of the nearby wind farm at Seaforth docks.

The UK is estimated to have at least a third of the European Union's entire wind resource, a good part of it is in the Northwest, both offshore and onshore.

The energy and environmental technologies sector is already a significant growth area in the region. It contributes £7.8 billion to the regional economy and employs more than 100,000 people.

As climate change becomes an increasingly high-profile issue, the development of sustainable energy sources becomes ever more pressing - and the Northwest is at the forefront of both R&D and commercial developments like Burbo Bank.

Take the Joule Centre for Energy Research, established in 2006 at the University of Manchester. It is a partnership of Northwest universities, commercial organisations and other stakeholders from the energy industry. It is the region's first centre dedicated to the development of sustainable energy supplies, pioneering new low-carbon technologies including wave, tidal and micro-hydro systems.

Complementing Manchester University's work with the Joule Centre, is its four-year research and development agreement with energy group EDF. The deal, which will provide £2 million of funding for research into wind power generation, wind farms, and environmentally-friendly insulating oils, among other projects, consolidates two decades of collaboration between EDF and the university.

Further north at Lancaster University is the Lancaster Environment Centre, the largest of its kind in the UK. The Sunday Times, in its 2007 university guide, acknowledged that, "the university has always been in the academic vanguard of research into the environment; it was one of the first to establish a department of environmental science and to make ecology a full degree subject."

On the commercial side, major international companies like United Utilities and Shell have major operations in the region, and there is a long association with nuclear power. Approximately half of the UK's nuclear sector employees are based here, and the vast majority of the country's nuclear research capability is concentrated in the region.

Sellafield is the largest nuclear site in the UK with 12,000 employees and an annual spend of approximately £1 billion. Other important players include the Springfields Fuels fuel fabrication facility near Preston and the BNFL Group, comprising British Nuclear Group (BNG), Nexia Solutions and Westinghouse. In addition, approximately 300 local companies form part of the national nuclear supply chain.

When it comes to energy, the Northwest's star burns brighter than most.