Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham today set out a plan to create and develop five growth-driving clusters across the city region.
In a keynote speech at a conference organised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and UCL, he talked about about how devolving control of skills and technical education could help unleash the economic potential of the North.
As part of the vision, Mayor Burnham talked of a new green energy cluster in the south-west of Greater Manchester including the world's largest liquid air energy storage plant, under construction by Highview Power in Carrington. He told delegates:
“Backed by a £300 million investment. It’s the first of its kind in the UK, and one of a few in the world, which will transform the economics of wind energy by capturing and storing in liquid form the output of the turbines through the night.
“That's often when wind energy can't put into the grid because the grid's full. So this changes that, providing enough clean energy to power nearly half a million homes.
“The first phase should be operational later this year. It will sit alongside a green hydrogen production facility, a battery storage plant, and the existing Carrington Power Station.”
The proposed clusters will be at the heart of a concrete plan to ‘reindustrialise the birthplace of the industrial revolution’ – and bring through a new generation of high-skilled workers in high-value jobs of the future.
Trafford Council Leader, Cllr Tom Ross, welcomed the ambition. He said:
“We’re proud of innovation in Trafford and the liquid air energy storage plant at Carrington ties in with our Council priority to address climate change. Our borough’s role in the reindustrialisation of the city is central and we look forward to working together on the development of this vision.”
Over the past decade, Greater Manchester has become the fastest growing economy in the UK, with productivity growth outpacing the national average with annual growth of 3.1 per cent since 2015.
The speech comes as a new report is published on Greater Manchester’s economy and growth sectors – drawing on evidence from The Productivity Institute at the University of Manchester, and looking at how plans can drive future good growth.
The plan will see Greater Manchester capitalise on established strengths like the creative industries, digital, and health innovation, while building out new spaces for advanced materials and manufacturing, and low carbon technologies – helping create new jobs across our towns and cities.