Prospect hails major investment boost for renewable energy projects
The green light for two major offshore wind projects has been welcomed by Prospect, as they will support thousands of jobs, as well as enhance our energy security, while bringing down emissions and bills for consumers.
Renewable giant company, RWE, together with global investment firm KKR, have announced a total investment of £12 billion, believed to be the biggest of its kind in UK history.
This gives the green light to the Vanguard West and Vanguard East offshore wind farms in the North Sea, which aim to be operational by 2030.
The projects will support more than 2,400 jobs during construction and operation, and once operational they will be able to power around three million UK homes with clean energy.
In addition, SSE has announced that the latest phase of its major offshore wind farm, Berwick Bank B, will support 2,600 skilled jobs in manufacturing, engineering and project delivery across the north of England and Scotland, after they contracted Siemens Energy for the manufacturing of wind turbines and substation platforms.
When fully operation, Berwick Bank B could become one of the largest wind farms in the world and could generate 6% of the UK’s current electricity demands.
The flurry of renewable energy announcements comes as the Prime Minister Andy Burnham prepares to attend the COP31 Leaders’ Summit in Turkey.
Prospect Senior Deputy General Secretary, Sue Ferns OBE, said:
“The future of our energy mix needs to be both cleaner and cheaper, and these projects have real potential to enhance our energy security while bearing down on bills and emissions.
“This government has supported trade union efforts to ensure that new jobs created in renewables are good quality, unionised jobs, and we are pleased that the government’s Fair Work Charter is in place across offshore wind.
“We must not allow our energy transition to stall, and government needs to use every lever possible to tackle the bottlenecks in our energy system, such as lack of grid capacity.”
