Humber Energy Strategy designed to benefit more of region's communities

A new energy strategy for the Humber has been revealed.

The Humber Energy Strategy, developed by the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and stakeholders, has been designed to deliver cleaner and more diversified energy sources throughout the region.

It will build on the industrial-scale clean energy generation being pioneered in the Energy Estuary.

The LEP has developed targeted solutions to suit energy requirements across the Humber region, which is a mix of urban and rural areas.

Model projects will range from the large-scale, such as carbon capture, usage and storage, wind and hydrogen power, through to smaller-scale community-level projects to help the region meet its carbon neutral target of 2040. 

They include utilising brownfield sites for solar panels in towns and cities, improving the energy efficiency of schools and public buildings and helping to decarbonise off-grid rural homes by providing them with innovative heating pumps.

The development of the strategy was supported by Siemens, which tested the viability of the 13 projects, with an action plan in place for each project with target dates, estimated costs and projected job creation.

Lord Haskins, chair of the Humber LEP, said: “This ambitious new strategy will see the Humber adapting a clean energy strategy from the ground up, whether that’s individual homeowners bringing in new technology such as heat pumps, to housing developers creating smart energy networks, or schools and colleges using solar panels on their sites.

“We are already known as the Energy Estuary and we are a leader in large-scale renewable energy, but our energy strategy shows that even down to a very localised, or even individual level, change is possible.  This strategy will be an important part of the Humber’s transition towards a net zero carbon economy and will support the creation of new opportunities from clean growth in the region.”

Find out more about the 13 project models here.