A marine energy park should be built on the Kent coastline to take advantage of its close proximity to the Continent, claims an influential MP.
Shadow energy and climate Change secretary Greg Clark says if the current Government had funded such an initiative 10 years ago, the county could already be leading the way in using wind and tidal power to provide electricity to the rest of Europe.
The Tunbridge Wells MP spoke of his vision for such a park – which would see a cluster of relevant businesses sharing resources and expertise – at a marine energy summit in Ramsgate, on Tuesday.
He told KOS Media afterwards that should the Conservatives win power at the next general election, developing a strong renewable energy sector will be one of the party’s top priorities.
Mr Clark said: “Picture the Kent coastline – it’s an amazing resource and unique to other places in the UK due to its close proximity to the Continent.
“It’s much more feasible that we should be providing electricity to the rest of Europe from somewhere like Ramsgate because it would be a lot quicker and easier to set up from there.
“We have a national emergency with energy and at the moment the Government is forecasting power cuts in 2017, so we desperately need more energy. Oil and gas prices have been very volatile too and we could end up paying much more for it in the future.
“There are also our climate change objectives to consider, as burning oil and gas is incredibly harmful to the environment and we need to find ways to reduce it.
“Nowhere else in the Continent has the natural resources that we do in the UK and really we ought to be a world leader in this field, but instead we are one of the least-developed countries in Europe.”
The marine energy summit – which was co-hosted by the Tories’ South Thanet candidate Laura Sandys – was held in the function room of Ramsgate’s Portobello restaurant.
As well as leading figures from the renewable energy sector, the meeting was also attended by representatives from the University of Kent and Kent County Council.
Mr Clark, who was appointed Shadow Climate Secretary just over a year ago, said he felt the Government should also be having public discussions about the issue.
He added: “I think the Government has had its head in the sand about this for the last 10 years. They should have known North Sea oil and gas was going to run out but they’ve done nothing.
“They even established a fund to invest in marine renewables that they still haven’t taken any money from, and have been incredibly complacent in regards to energy and marine energy in particular.
“If we had established energy parks 10 years ago then Kent might already be exporting energy abroad rather than us just sitting here talking about it.”
POSTED: 14/11/2009 10:00:00
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