News

The National Trust's Wallington estate is a working agricultural estate near Morpeth with 14 farms and also boasts a mansion and gardens which attract 200,000 visitors each year, with two foresters managing the 800 acres of woodland.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband today signed a non binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe Ltd (MPSE). The company intends to invest up to £100 million in an offshore wind turbine project in the UK. This will create up to 200 highly skilled jobs.

A total of 1,300 charging points will now be installed across the region over the next three years on streets, in car parks, at residential and commercial locations and at retail and leisure facilities, after OLEV confirmed funding of £2,978,000 for the regional project through its Plugged-In Places programme.

The energy efficiency capital grants scheme is part of a £65m package of new investment for the UK launched today at an event hosted by Lord Mandelson and Regional Economic Development Minister Rosie Winterton.

The ground breaking event, scheduled for today at 10am at the site, is being performed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband and Minister for the North East, Nick Brown.

The region’s reputation built working in the offshore oil and gas and shipbuilding industries has already seen major renewable contracts awarded to firms like Heerema and JDR Cables in Hartlepool and McNulty Offshore in South Tyneside and IHC Engineering Business in Riding Mill.

One North East’s Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) BioeNErgy Assessment Panel has awarded over £60,000 in two phases to Grahame O’Kane of G T O’Kane Timber who specialises in forestry contracting in small woodlands.

The document identifies the region’s strengths and future plans for CCS, whilst making a strong case for further investment in the North East. CCS is necessary for a number of industrial processes to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and is particularly vital in North East England due to the presence of the Chemical and Process Industries, which employ an estimated 26,000 people across the region.

The Northern Wind Innovation Programme, funded by The Northern Way (a partnership of the three northern regional development agencies; One North East, Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and Yorkshire Forward) is being delivered by the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) and Envirolink Northwest.

The Regional Development Agency is currently preparing its bid to the Government’s £30m ‘Plugged-In Places’ initiative, which will effectively provide match-funding for the installation of charging points on streets, in car parks and in commercial, retail and leisure facilities.

The EVA (Electric Vehicles for Advanced cities) consortium answered the call for proposals for an integrated EU demonstration project on electromobility published last 30th of July by the European Commission as part of the Green Car Initiative for economic recovery.

The New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) at Blyth is launching its Business Support in Micro-renewables project for small and medium sized Enterprises (SMEs).

The new advanced facility will provide an independent and confidential environment to accelerate the development of new blade designs before they are taken offshore. It will be the largest of its type in the world and expands on Narec’s existing blade testing capability developed over the last five years, serving the global supply chain and industrial research community.The new world class facility is jointly funded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Energy and Climate Change (£11.5m) and Regional Development Agency One North East (£3.5m).

A Downing Street reception for 100 business leaders whose organisations have embraced the low carbon economy.

Additional investment to create and attract new businesses into the region, providing 40 jobs and assisting over 100 companies with innovation. This incubation facility will offer 150m2 of R&D premises and incubation space for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to test ideas and accelerate product development.

Regional Development Agency One North East has organised the event for companies who can supply the company when it begins to manufacture its new 10MW Turbine, which will be the largest offshore wind turbine in the world.

Experts from MAS North East’s Energy team saved aluminium die casting specialists Norfran Ltd 35% on its annual energy bills by renegotiating utility contracts, which has helped safeguard around 20 jobs at the plant.

The company is carrying out a multi million pound research project into pioneering low-energy detergent technology with the support of a Large Company Research and Development Grant of £1.25m from One North East.

One North East has invested £314,000 to sponsor the ECO2Trans project, which is converting two electric Gulliver U500EUK buses into hydrogen vehicles using a fuel cell, battery and capacitor combination.

The cars have been delivered to the region by Cenex, the UK’s Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell Technologies, and will form a six-month trial that will give more than 500 drivers the chance to drive an electric vehicle for the first time.

The £3.5m feasibility study, which includes detailed engineering design work for a plant at the company’s Seal Sands site in the Tees Valley, is being supported by a £2.2m grant from the Regional Development Agency One North East and the Department for Energy and Climate Change. When completed, the feasibility study will inform an investment decision in 2010 for a commercial INEOS Bio bio-ethanol and bio-energy plant.

The Transport Secretary is visiting Newcastle Civic Centre to inspect the first of 40 charging points for electric vehicles that will be installed on Tyneside in the coming weeks and months in a range of locations, such as public buildings, retail centres and on the roadside.

CABE is the government’s advisor on architecture, urban design and public space, and has joined forces with Design Review to decide whether schemes will be seen by CABE nationally or by the regional service in the first instance, saving valuable time.

The Renewable Energy Manufacturing Technology (REMTEC) initiative has received a further £1.67m of funding from One North East to improving the technical capabilities and business competitiveness of North East engineering and manufacturing companies.

Newcastle University is to establish a dedicated, state of the art facility integrating a range of technologies in Combined Heat and Power (CHP), Trigeneration (CHP plus refrigeration/cooling) and Energy Storage to support innovation and business development in the region.

Experienced candidates are required to support the business in the delivery of proposals for the expansion of testing and technology development infrastructure, designed to increase our service offerings and meet the growing needs of the offshore wind and marine renewable sectors.

The 15-strong board of business people, local authority leaders and academics has given its backing to the development of new internationally-significant facilities that represent a £42.5m investment in the region.

Since its establishment a year ago by Government and One North East, the new MAS NE service - which is a combination of the Manufacturing Advisory Service and One North East’s pioneering North East Productivity Alliance - has registered impressive results, working with firms across the region providing practical advice and guidance to boost productivity and generate efficiency savings.

The minister, who has responsibility for the automotive sector, will meet three forward-thinking companies from the region who are the first to express a commitment to the UK’s new Low Carbon Future Leaders scheme.

The pilot-scale fleet trial was announced today by Cenex and Regional Development Agency One North East at the National Low Carbon Vehicle Event. It will see four electric Smart cars deployed in the region for six months from October 2009 which more than 500 people will use over the duration of the trial.

Chelsea Sexton was in North East England to see how the region is at the forefront of electric vehicle development and aiming to create a new generation of ‘green-collar’ jobs.

Located within the UK’s first Low Carbon Economic Area for Ultra-Low-Carbon Vehicles, which is being delivered by regional development agency One North East, the scheme is set to deliver 4,000 jobs to Sunderland.

MAS North East (MAS NE) is to launch a new service focused on resource efficiency, waste water and green energy, helping regional manufacturers make considerable savings by becoming more environmentally aware.

Agency experts will be joined by key regional and international partners in the development of low-carbon vehicles and charging infrastructure at the second Cenex National Low Carbon Vehicle Event.

MGT Power has announced plans for a second biomass facility, the 295MW Tyne Renewable Energy Plant (Tyne REP), to be built on industrial land owned by the Port of Tyne in North Shields. Tyne REP represents an investment of over £400m, the creation of 600 construction jobs, 150 on-site jobs, 300 - 400 indirect jobs and an annual spend of £30m in the local economy.

The ID Partnership Group’s Newcastle office has been carrying out pan-European research for the last two and a half years to gather together information on the best available pre-engineered building types, so that a new sustainable housing design solution could be developed which doesn’t compromise on the properties’ individuality.

The Quality Protocol safeguards the quality of outputs from compliant producers, making it easier for industry to divert waste from lower value uses or disposal and into the production of quality biodiesel.

Four major US corporations and two utility companies took delivery of the Smith Newton, the largest road-going electric truck in North America. Coca-Cola, Staples, Frito-Lay, AT&T, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) are the first Newton customers in the USA.

As part of NESTA’s (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) Big Green Challenge, CoRE will receive £20,000 plus a tailored package of support.

The announcement was made at the company’s car factory in Washington this morning, where Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation & Skills, named the North East the country’s first Low Carbon Economic Area for low carbon vehicles.

The Industrial Biotechnology facility will build on the capabilities at the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), including the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility (NIBF) and cement the Tees Valley’s leading position in this sector.

Consent was granted for a new biomass power station in Tees Port near Middlesbrough. The new station, owned by MGT Power Limited, will be fuelled by some 2.4 million tonnes of clean wood chip fuel per year and provide up to 295MW of clean energy.