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Energy & Environment
Wales has a thriving alternative energy project portfolio and private businesses here are using that energy to power their own operations - by either buying green power from energy suppliers or installing equipment on their own premises to generate it. Energy suppliers are building wind farms and under-water tidal farms along our coasts. Manufacturers of solar cells are doubling their capacity to meet demand and massive new projects are in the offering for nuclear, wind turbine and international connections for sharing hydroelectric power.
Key Facts:
- Wales has over 40,000 people employed in the sector contributing more than £3.2billion to the economy annually.
- Global players such as Sharp, Centrica, RWE npower renewables, E.On, EDF, Western Energy, UPM, AMEC, SSE, Magnox and Welsh Water are already taking advantage of the natural and intellectual resources in Wales.
- Next Generation Data Limited, Newport, is buying all its electricity from SmartestEnergy, the UK's largest purchaser of electricity from the independant generation sector, to supply its recently opened state-of-the-art 750,000 square feet data storage facility.
- Centrica was awarded exclusive rights to develop offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea. The number of sites and locations has yet to be finalised pending environmental and other assessments. But the area comprises more than 2,000 square kilometres, which would provide a potential capacity of more than four gigawatts, enough to supply four million homes. Construction could start in 2016 with the zone containing up to 1,000 turbines.
- The 500MW Interconnector will link Woodland in County Meath to Deeside, Wales via a 260km cable (180 km under the sea) to allow the two-way flow of electricity. It will allow UK operators to sell electricity to Ireland. The European Union is giving 110 million euro (£102m) towards the project.
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We know that every business is different. We’ll listen to what you need and help bring together everything required to make it happen. From a skilled workforce to property advice, through to a range of finance options and support for research and development. And Wales has one of the best staff retention records in Europe.
Long after you decide to locate in Wales, we will still be here to support and help you develop your business.
For more information about business support and development opportunities please phone +44 (0) 3000 6 03000 or click here to email us.