The new training tower at the New and Renewable Energy Centre (NAREC) in Blyth will help people from the North East and across the UK to get the skills they need to help generate more clean and secure wind energy.
The Offshore Wind Accelerator is a research and development collaboration between the Carbon Trust and offshore wind developers that focuses on developing technologies that have potential to cut the cost of future wind farm developments.
Mr Kidney, said: ”Fighting climate change and ensuring our energy security is a challenge, but it’s also a massive opportunity – an opportunity for skills, jobs and investment. Research and development, and giving people the skills to build offshore wind farms will be vital to keeping the UK ahead of the world.
”As we build larger wind farms, in deeper waters, further from shore, we must work with industry to find and develop vital new technologies. The funding I’m announcing today will help companies drive down costs and share resources, which will benefit the entire industry here in the UK.”
Tom Delay, CEO of Carbon Trust, said: ”Today’s announcement shows the commitment to the Carbon Trust’s Offshore Wind Accelerator and provides confidence in its ability to drive cost out of offshore wind deployment.
”We have seen many promising concepts and innovative solutions to the technology challenges that the offshore wind industry faces as it moves further offshore and this additional funding will help to scale up our activity and enable us to continue to drive costs out of this key technology.”
