Siemens (the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe) has recently announced a new partnership with UK100 (the network of mayors and council leaders) aimed to help bring forward green energy projects worth over £100bn.
The agreement will have Siemens working with a network of 94 political leaders and the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to bring financing from local authorities, private capital and government investment to projects across the country. The goal is to get the projects off the ground and at a ‘significant’ commercial scale.
The ultimate goal is to tackle the climate crisis, push the UK towards its 2050 net-zero emissions target, and help the country fulfill its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement.
This announcement follows the BEIS creation of five Local Energy Hubs – in the North West, Yorkshire, Humber and the North East, Greater South East, Midlands and the South West. The partnership builds upon the development of these hubs. The hubs are meant to provide practical support and expertise to local enterprise partnerships and local authorities – to help them undertake the development for priority energy projects, up to the point where they are able to secure finance.
Research conducted by the organizations involved show there are £100 billion-worth of clean energy projects which could be deployed and commercialized with more public and private support. Although, only a small proportion of these are at the point of commercialization. The rest that are not are either at conceptual or feasibility stages. Reasons for this were said to be heavy bureaucracy and tardy decision-making – both of which hinder progress and development of the projects. This new agreement intends to simplify procurement processes and speed-up slow decision-making in order to scale-up projects and attract large investment.
Carl Ennis, Managing Director of Siemens Smart Infrastructure, said:
Local government is in a strong position to help the UK shift to 100% clean energy. We will work with Local Energy Hubs to develop clean energy action plans which will make credible business cases to attract investors and make sure that these plans have support from local communities.
A survey that was part of the research also showed that both investors and local councils are calling for more support from central government by providing additional development capital, a single gateway to apply for support as well as support in developing a business case for clean energy projects.
Polly Billington, director of UK100, said:
Siemens commitment to this partnership is a sign that the private sector is taking local energy schemes seriously and can help local government to play its part in meeting our ambition of net-zero emissions.
Carl Ennis added:
Local government is in a strong position to help the UK shift to 100% clean energy. We will work with Local Energy Hubs to develop clean energy action plans which will make credible business cases to attract investors and make sure that these plans have support from local communities.
The first stage of the partnership (which has already begun – in Leicester on October 3) is a series of regional workshops intended to examine the clean energy projects currently under development and then develop business cases for investment and outline what policy changes may be required.
