During the climate change negotiations a consensus seems to have been reached, if politicians will not lead, businesses will have to. A quick overview of the business world can be depressing but a closer look reveals the worms wriggling out of the wood work: business and industrial initiatives that could make ‘the green economy’ less of a catchphrase.
The Norstec scheme could be one of those – but it’s too early to know at what scale.
It is trying to replicate the success of the Desertec Industrial Initiative. Desertec is a German led project launched in 2009 and the private industry joint venture today has over 55 members from 17 countries. It is widely seen as one of the drivers and facilitators behind the deployment of solar power technology in North Africa and the Middle-East and has an ambitious vision for 2050. In essence, this initiative responds to many of the preconditions for the development of sustainable infrastructure that where put forth by the Cambridge centre of sustainable development in proceedings from the Institute of Civil Engineers.
Norstec was launched in April 2012 and is a UK led private industry initiative which started with 20 odd members. In less than a year membership has doubled.
Current UK and European ambitions for offshore wind focus on targets for 2020, with a 40GW offshore wind energy target.
To put this in context, 40GW is the equivalent to thirteen of the proposed new Hinckley nuclear power station. What happens afterwards is not clearly defined but we know that the North Sea renewable resources are much larger than the European oil and gas resources and being renewable, they are not finite.
Efficiently capturing these resources is essential to any plan to see renewables provide the vast majority of our energy by 2030 and beyond. Some will argue Nuclear and Carbon Capture and Storage make that unnecessary.
Norstec bridges the gap between national industrial initiatives (such as Energi Coast and AREG) and European wide industrial initiatives (Friends of the Supergrid). It could also potentially provide a vehicle to sustainably manage the future development of the North Sea wind industry as governments step back.
Currently, the Norstec is in its infancy, members met up for the first time in October 2012. The next baby steps are starting to be defined but no timetable is available and the leadership and management structure is yet to be established. Norstec has a lot of catching up to do before it achieves the status of Desertec – but it’s certainly one to watch.
