Western Gateway announce new partnership with SSE
An innovative new partnership has been announced between SSE Energy Solutions and the Western Gateway Partnership at the Convention for the Western Gateway 2024, to help prepare South Wales and Western England for a net zero energy network.
The agreement will give Local Authorities across the area access to advice on Local Area Energy Planning projects, opportunities to deliver new energy generation projects, and support to connect to the grid.
The Western Gateway, is the Pan-Regional Partnership for South Wales and Western England, bringing together 28 Local Authorities alongside business and academia representatives. Through collaboration the Partnership has already helped to secure millions of pounds of investment for the area in nuclear and hydrogen energy, bringing together business, universities and local authorities.
Decarbonising our energy system is one of our board’s key priorities and our ability to create new low carbon energy is a major sector of strength for our area.
We have some incredible investment opportunities across this area from the likes of the Celtic Freeport and Swansea Bay, the Severn Tidal Commission, Aberthaw, the Severn Edge nuclear programme, the Global Centre for Rail Excellence and the West of England Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plan. SSE can add essential industry delivery expertise to our delivery of a credible energy systems approach across our phenomenal assets here.
This new agreement was unveiled at the beginning of the Convention which brought together around 600 public sector, industry and academia delegates to launch the area’s Plan for Sustainable Growth.
Nathan Sanders, is Managing Director of SSE Energy Solutions, part of SSE plc. In 2023, SSE laid out plans that could see it invest up to £40bn across the decade to 2031/32.
Credible partnerships lead to deliverable projects, and these begin by talking constructively to organisations in both the public and private sector.
The Western Gateway ambition to deliver projects at scale across a functional economic geography is one shared across SSE.
SSE have a growing role supporting a range of high-profile energy infrastructure projects across South Wales and Western England. This includes an agreement with Cardiff Capital Region Energy to explore solutions for transforming the old Aberthaw coal-powered plant into a green energy hub.
For more details on regional collaboration with the public sector
