Opportunity
Opportunity
The South West is the premier destination for investment, innovation and growth for the nuclear industry and electric battery manufacture, attracting significant investment and growth, landing UK and foreign investment into the area.
Somerset is home to Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, a large-scale project to construct a 3,200 MWe nuclear power station with two EPRs located on the West Somerset Coast. These are the first nuclear reactors to be built in the UK for 20 years and will provide low carbon electricity for six million homes over a sixty-year period, representing approximately 7% of the UK’s electricity needs.
With a focus on innovation, tech and supply chain modelling, the nuclear sector is supported by the University Centre Somerset College Group who developed the National College for Nuclear, where they provide degree level apprenticeships across the whole nuclear life cycle and emerging new technologies. The sector is also supported by Nuclear South West, a leading partnership organisation which brings together the sector’s key energy stakeholders and works with other sites and partnerships across the country to support supply chain development, inward investment and upskilling.
The largest Gigafactory in the UK is also under construction in the County. It represents a £4 billion investment which will directly create 4,000 new jobs and thousands more in the wider supply chain. By the early 2030s, it will contribute almost half of the projected battery manufacturing capacity required for the UK automotive sector.
Completing the trio of nationally significant energy infrastructure projects is the proposed West Somerset Lagoon a £10.5 billion tidal energy project located between Minehead and Watchet on the southern coast of the Bristol Channel Basin. It aims to become the UK’s largest sustainable energy project, harnessing the world’s second-highest tidal range to generate clean, predictable, and long-term renewable energy.