Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho says 'Blyth is buzzing' thanks to renewable energy industry

Claire Coutinho, who has led the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero since August, spoke exclusively to the Northumberland Gazette while visiting Blyth Offshore Wind Farm on Thursday, February 8.

The Energy Secretary chatted with apprentices at EDF Renewables’ Port of Blyth facility during the visit, which took place during national apprenticeship week, and praised the training opportunities that the energy industry was bringing to the area.

However, she would not be drawn on government action to address delays to the Britishvolt gigafactory project in Cambois due to “commercial sensitivities.”

She said: “I am visiting Blyth to meet the really exciting apprentices that we have in the area because there is a huge amount of energy infrastructure being put in place.

“I am at EDF meeting some of the bright, young engineering apprentices, hearing about how the work that they are going to do is going to make sure that we have the cheap, clean energy of the future that we need.

“The thing that was really interesting is how many of them have found the apprenticeship pathway attractive because it meant that they could earn while they learned and also in sectors that they saw had huge potential for the future.”

The cabinet minister added: “We are one of the only countries in the world where you can do apprenticeships at any age. In terms of job opportunities, that is there for everyone.

“More broadly, even talking to the apprentices that I was talking to downstairs, I was asking about their parents and how they felt about the area.

“It is clear that lots of people, no matter what sector you are in, no matter what you think your future job is going to be, you feel like there is a change, like Blyth is buzzing, and that there is a huge amount of opportunity.”

Responding to questions about the future of the Britishvolt site, Ms Coutinho said: “I cannot comment on the specifics because of the commercial sensitivities, but overall we have set out battery strategies and we are really keen to make sure that we have got lots of high-quality jobs in all of these areas.”

Despite ongoing delays to getting renewable energy projects in Northumberland connected to the grid, the minister said reforming the country’s electricity network was “a huge priority” and that “lots is happening.”

She said: “One of my biggest priorities since I came to the role was to focus on the grid, and last year we set out the most radical reforms to the grid since the mid-1950s.

“It is absolutely essential to everything we want to do in terms of electrification and making sure that people can have that cheap clean energy that we know they need.”

Ms Coutinho added: “We appointed an Electricity Network Commissioner. We have accepted all of his recommendations, which is to halve the grid connection time from 14 years to seven years, and also take down the delays of grid connection from five years to six months.

“These are absolutely radical plans. We know this is mission critical, and that is exactly why we have taken the action that we have.”