Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy what steps his Department is taking to encourage the expansion of the renewable energy industry in the north of England.

Through Government policies we have dramatically increased the deployment of renewable generation. Renewable electricity now makes up over a third of our generation and our renewable capacity has quadrupled since 2010. 24% of the UK’s renewable capacity is located in the North of England.

The Government’s manifesto set out an ambition to further expand offshore wind to reach 40GW of capacity by 2030, and we will continue to work with the offshore wind industry to deliver the ambition for 60% UK content in offshore wind farms, as agreed in the Offshore Wind Sector Deal. New wind farms being built off the North East coast, such as the Dogger Bank and Sophia projects, will provide a huge economic opportunity for the north east of England, delivering 5GW of new renewable energy; enough to power over 5 million homes. UK companies such as Tekmar, JDR Cables and Seajacks, all based in the North of England, are not only supplying UK renewable projects, but winning export contracts abroad.

We are also helping to develop renewable heat network infrastructure across the North. For example, on 3 February, the Coal Authority announced the construction of the UK’s first heat network to take renewable heat from mine water in County Durham.