Nuclear & Renewables

Summary

Britain’s shift towards a low carbon economy has been embraced in Cumbria like nowhere else through the Britain’s Energy Coast initiative – which aims to transform Cumbria into a major generator of nuclear and renewable energy. Energy opportunities have attracted companies and billions of pounds worth of inward investment from across the globe.

Cumbria has a strong foundation on which to build as home to the world’s first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall. Sellafield is currently being decommissioned by Nuclear Management Partners, although fuel reprocessing continues to take place on site. Land adjacent to Sellafield is earmarked for a new power station, developed by consortium NuGeneration Ltd, and on completion Cumbria would have the complete nuclear cycle. The industry is backed by an extensive supply chain of companies, along with leading education and research facilities including Energus; the National Skills Academy for Nuclear; the National Nuclear Laboratory; and the Dalton Cumbria Facility – a teaching and education centre specialising in radiation sciences.

In addition to West Cumbria’s nuclear assets, renewable energy is also developing at a rapid rate across the whole of the County, in particular off-shore wind. The 30-turbine Bowind wind farm (Centrica and Dong Energy) off Walney Island, Barrow, was Cumbria’s first and Walney Wind Farm (Dong Energy and Scottish & Southern Energy) the latest – a 102-turbine development that will produce 1.5GW of energy and support construction and servicing jobs. Further north in the Solway Firth, E.ON’s Robin Rigg windfarm powers around 117,000 homes. There are numerous hydro projects in Cumbria including Coniston Hydro Scheme, with technology provided by Gilbert, Gilkes & Gordon; and tidal barrages are proposed across the Solway Firth and Morecambe Bay.

Back on dry land, Sundog Energy, Penrith, designs and installs solar photovoltaic systems for buildings throughout Britain; Mechanical Biological Treatment municipal waste treatment plants are being constructed in Carlisle and Barrow; and anaerobic digestion plants planned for Silloth and other locations across Cumbria.  Barrow is also a nationally important hub for natural gas storage, with capacity at Barrow Gas Terminal set to increase by 30 per cent through the Gateway storage project.

Why not read The Scope for Renewable Energy in Cumbria by Sir Martin Holdgate.

Nuclear & Renewables

Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon

Gilbert Gilkes & Gordon Ltd is a world leader in the supply of small hydropower systems for the generation of electricity from water, supplying turbines to more than 80 countries. Gilkes offers innovative, customised engineering, across numerous products and industrial applications to meet the individual requirements of an expanding worldwide customer base. The company, founded over 150 years ago, also designs and manufactures a range of sophisticated pumps for the cooling of diesel engines and plant, supplying many of the world's major diesel engine producers to meet the exacting standards demanded by the Marine, Power Generation, Oil/Gas and Locomotive markets.

Nuclear & Renewables

Centrica

Centrica is a top 30 FTSE100 company with growing energy businesses in the UK and North America. Centrica sources, generates, processes, trades and stores energy, and supplies gas and electricity to millions of homes and businesses in the UK through its retail brand British Gas. Centrica operates Barrow gas terminal, in addition to Morecambe Bay offshore gas fields which feed into Barrow. Barrow is one of the largest gas processing facilities in the UK, and along with the Morecambe Bay operation plays a vital role in supporting Centrica's sustainable business and providing security of supply for our UK customers.

Nuclear & Renewables

Sundog Energy

Sundog Energy is a leader in the supply and installation of renewable energy systems, designing photo voltaic solar and wind power systems for commercial, public sector and domestic customers across the UK. Installations range from offices and new homes developments through to public sector projects including schools and museums. In 2010 the company won a national award for its work with Kier Construction on the solar energy system for Kings Cross Station in London, which will generate 175,000 units of energy each year saving nearly 100 tonnes of CO2 emissions for the grade 1 listed building.

Nuclear & Renewables

Dong Energy

DONG Energy has been one of the pioneers of wind turbine development in Cumbria, first through the 30-turbine 90 megawatt Bowind project in partnership with Centrica off Walney Island, Barrow, and now continuing with the Walney Wind Farm 1 in partnership with Scottish & Southern Energy which will see 102 turbines development producing 1.5GW of energy and generating support construction and servicing jobs. With more than 20 years experience in the wind power industry, DONG Energy is one of the leading offshore wind farm developers in the UK, and is also involved in offshore oil and gas exploration and production.

Nuclear & Renewables

Sellafield Ltd

Sellafield Ltd is the company responsible for safely delivering decommissioning, reprocessing, nuclear waste management and fuel manufacturing activities on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Now owned by Nuclear Management Partners, Sellafield Ltd has the largest concentration of nuclear expertise in Europe and is carrying out some of the most innovative and complex nuclear activities in the world. The Sellafield site operation is spread across 6 square kilometres and is home to more than 1,000 facilities; these include decommissioning the UK's nuclear legacy as well fuel recycling, manufacturing and the management of low, high and intermediate level nuclear waste.