Regen leads call to put local jobs at heart of renewables projects

Regen SW and four Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) have called on government to require all large renewable energy projects to have a formal plan for creating local jobs.

The call comes in a response to a government consultation on how large scale renewables should foster innovation, competition and support the development of low carbon supply chains as part of the Electricity Market Reform process.

The chief executive of Regen SW, Merlin Hyman, said:

“Nearly half of all UK infrastructure investment this decade will be in energy, over £100 billion. This is a huge opportunity to renew our local economies and deliver for local communities.”

“We believe that renewable energy projects should make the most of the local skills. We also believe that this will help drive down costs by developing efficient local supply chains for renewable energy projects.”

“The South West Renewable Energy Manifesto sets out a commitment to make the most of the tremendous potential to create jobs in renewable energy in the south west. This is an important opportunity for government to help us with that aspiration by ensuring all renewable energy companies have a plan to support growth in the local area”.

Regen SW, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Heart of the South West, Dorset and West of England LEPs have called on government to strengthen the proposals by:

• Including all large scale projects (over 5 MW) and not just those over 300 MW
• Introducing a requirement to ensure the local supply chain has the opportunity to compete 
• Providing an opportunity for LEPs and local authorities affected by the project to comment on the supply chain plan. 

Regen’s South West Renewable Energy Manifesto published this year and backed by West of England, Heart of the South West, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and Dorset LEPs sets a target of 34,000 renewable energy jobs by 2020.7