First ever analysis of whole UK renewable energy sector reveals North West employs 9,400 with a turnover of £1.2 billion
CNG Services Ltd [1] featured in new report which finds that the UK’s £12.5 billion renewables industry supports 110,000 jobs across supply chain
‘Renewable Energy: Made in Britain,’ a ground-breaking new report from the REA [2] and Innovas, leaders in the low carbon economy field, will be launched today – on the eve of the Clean Energy Ministerial Summit [3] – at the award winning headquarters of Renewable Energy Systems [4]. This marks the first time that the turnover and employment figures of the entire UK renewables sector have been quantified and brought together in one place.
The report finds that the UK renewables industry is worth £12.5 billion and supports 110,000 jobs, with 400,000 required to meet the 2020 renewables targets [5]. The report also reveals:
The North West renewables sector employs over 9,400 people across 611 companies
2,670 employed in the biomass production and utilisation sectors
Turnover from the renewables sector is around £1.2 billion
These findings come just days after the European Commission identified the green economy as a “key sector” offering “important job creation potential,” with renewables alone claimed to provide up to 3 million jobs across the EU to 2020 [6].
Launching the report, REA Chief Executive Gaynor Hartnell said: “When it comes to the employment, economic and energy challenges we face, this report gives a clear answer: Make it renewable, and make it in Britain.”
Gregory Barker, Minister of State for Climate Change, said: “Renewable energy not only provides us with clean and secure energy that cuts our reliance on imported fossil fuels - it generates billions of pounds of investment and potentially hundreds and thousands of jobs and is a key growth sector for the UK economy. “The REA’s report sets out plainly the opportunities and challenges in this area. We are determined to seize the momentum and secure maximum benefit for the UK.”
CNG Services Ltd (CSL) are at the forefront of providing renewable solutions for the transport sector and are featured on page 33 of the report, which highlighted CSL’s pioneering role in providing an “Organic Waste to Vehicle Fuel” network. The filling station is the largest of its kind in the UK and has the capacity to fill 500 dual-fuel HGVs with compressed natural gas (CNG). Benefits of CNG as a vehicle fuel are as follows:
15% reduction in tail-pipe CO2 emissions in comparison to diesel
Cost of fuel is around 30% lower due to the widening gap between oil and gas prices
Significant reduction in pollutants such as PM10s and NOx
CSL is supporting a number of biomethane to grid projects in the UK where renewable gas produced from the anaerobic digestion of organic waste is upgraded and injected into the UK gas grid. This ‘green gas’ can be tracked using the Green Gas Certification Scheme and equivalent gas can be extracted and dispensed to trucks at Crewe. Crewe is the first station in a proposed network of CNG filling stations that will support the “Organic Waste to Vehicle Fuel” concept that enables vehicles to run on green gas.
The report also revealed that the anaerobic digestion and biomethane sector has a national turnover of £320 million and supports 2,650 jobs across the supply chain.
CSL Managing director, John Baldwin said: “Our CNG station in Crewe - which is the largest in the UK - is well placed to help hauliers in the North West reduce their carbon footprint and save money. Crewe is known as a railway town but it's now also firmly on the map as the UK's leading gas for trucks town.”
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