The Energy Sector: Region well placed for Green Bank
YORKSHIRE has the perfect mix of strengths to enable it to attract the Government’s £3bn Green Investment Bank to the region, according to experts.
City leaders hope to attract the Bank to Leeds. It will initially have £3bn at its disposal, will make its first investments from April next year and its early priorites will be offshore wind, waste and energy efficiency.
The Bank will also be able to borrow and make equity investments once it has received clearance that it meets EU rules on state aid.
Business leaders taking part in a round table as part of TheBusinessDesk.com’s supplement on the energy sector, in association with law firm Addleshaw Goddard, agreed that the opportunity to attract the Government’s £3bn Green Investment Bank to Yorkshire would benefit the region.
Simon Pilling, corporate finance partner at Addleshaw Goddard in Leeds, said: “What we have in the region are people prepared to invest in opportunities.
“We’ve got a very strong financial services sector and a very strong professional services sector. I think it’s in everybody’s interests in this city to keep as much in the region as we possibly can.
“If there is to be a GIB investing in opportunities around the market we have got the infrastructure in this market to support that kind of organisation.”
Steve Brown, director at CO2 Sense, added: “We have the projects that the bank will want to fund here. There’s no reason that we couldn’t attract, if not the bank, then a major operation of it here.”
Other issues explored in the supplement include an assessment of the region’s future energy needs; how Yorkshire is leading the way with new innovations in the energy sector; and analysis of the regulatory changes needed to help the enegy sector.
