Energy Secretary Ed Davey has backed Bristol’s European Green Capital 2015 bid during a visit to the city.
Speaking at the Bristol head office of international law firm Osborne Clarke, where he met a group of pioneering West firms involved in the Government’s Green Deal, Mr Davey, pictured, praised Bristol and its mayor George Ferguson for putting the green agenda at its heart.
He had earlier visited Siemens-owned Marine Current Turbines (MCT), based on the Bristol & Bath Science Park, where he officially opened its 25,000 sq ft testing and assembly facility, and had also met Mayor Ferguson at City Hall.
He said Bristol had a good chance of landing the European Green Capital title – for which it is shortlisted with Brussels, Glasgow and Ljubljana – as it had been runner up for the 2014 title behind Copenhagen.
He said the city had taken a lead in areas such as energy efficiency through projects such as housing insulation as well as securing a reputation as a test bed for pioneering sustainable technology such as that used in wave power.
The MCT facility will be the first of its kind in the UK and will be used to assemble and test the firm’s first drive trains. Full system testing of the drive trains will be completed at Narec in Northumberland.
Mr Davey spent an hour with 15 West companies hearing about their Green Deal experiences in the meeting at Osborne Clarke arranged by Regen SW.
Regen SW chief executive Merlin Hyman, said: “This seminar was a great opportunity for south west companies to engage directly with the Secretary of State on how to make the Green Deal work.
“The message from businesses was that this is a huge opportunity for the construction sector, but is dependent on getting the details of the scheme right.”
