Cabinet hails Southampton as a 'green trailblazer'
February 23rd 2009
As part of the Cabinet's visit to Southampton today, Alan Whitehead showcased Southampton's geothermal power plant to Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.
Alan Whitehead commissioned the power plant in the early 80s, and pushed ahead with it even when the Thatcher government pulled the plug on central funding to the project.
Today, both Ed Miliband and Hazel Blears unveiled the plant's carbon calculator, which showed the plant had saved 112,538 tonnes of carbon since opening in 1986.
Alan also secured a briefing with the operators of the geothermal power plant with the Cabinet Ministers, to talk about how the scheme could be used as a blue-print for similar district heating schemes across the UK.
After the briefing, the Cabinet Ministers and Alan met with residents in Park View apartments in the Polygon, which are private flats heated by the power plant as part of Southampton's district heating scheme. The scheme also provides heat and power to the Grand Harbour Devere Hotel, the Quays Swimming Pool, the Civic Centre, and West Quay, as well as other residential blocks in the city centre. A new deal has also just been secured to supply energy from the plant to Southampton docks.
Ed Miliband said the site showed Southampton as a trailblazer for the rest of the UK:
“What is remarkable about this scheme, which has been going since 1986, is the way it has not only signed residents, but also the public sector and the private sector who are seeing the benefits to them and the environment of combined heat and power. Southampton is leading Britain and leading parts of the world and we would like to see how we can have more on this."
Alan said:
"In Southampton we have shown that green energy is not pie-in-the-sky. This geothermal plant is saving families and businesses real money and real carbon every day. I have been working for a long time in Parliament to get support for making similar community-based energy schemes the norm across the UK, which is why it was so good to get Cabinet ministers down here and show them first-hand just what is possible."
Read more about the geothermal plant visit here.
Read about the cabinet in Southampton here.
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