Bay Fusion STEP Shortlist Update
14th October 2021
Bay Fusion has received news that we have unfortunately not reached the shortlist for the UKAEA STEP siting competition.
This is very disappointing, however after a review of our nomination with UKAEA we are confident we did all we could for our entry and ultimately it came down to us being in the running alongside 5 remaining sites that have larger areas of land available for STEP. Our skills base, partnership for delivery, transport and utilities infrastructure were all highly ranked, and we hope to move forward from here in collaboration with stakeholders to find other potential opportunities for the area that can capitalise on these strengths.
During our journey to nominate Heysham as a potential site for STEP we have brought together regional industry, universities and local authorities around Morecambe Bay and North West England to try and support development of fusion and low carbon energy sectors, key to combating climate change. We hope Bay Fusion has galvanised support for regional industry in these areas and we look forward to assisting future activities. We are currently looking to build a regional supply chain directory in collaboration with RTC North to further support our growing UK and global fusion industry - find out more here.
The land areas we were able to nominate included local authority land and areas of privately owned land pledged by the Middleton Business Park owners and we greatly appreciate their support through this process. The area around Middleton and Imperial Road (the former ICI Trimpell site) is already undergoing regeneration as part of the "Heysham Gateway" project, a joint Lancaster City Council and Lancashire County Council initiative aiming to make the area a premier business location, especially for low carbon and energy sectors. We also wish to thank all our industrial and individual supporters - we received hundreds of email supporting the project.
Councillor Tim Hamilton-Cox, Lancaster City Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for sustainable economic prosperity, said: “This bidding process has been hugely beneficial for all of the partners and has brought a new focus to the regeneration of the Heysham and Middleton area. UKAEA highlighted to us what an impressive site we have and was very complimentary of the Bay Fusion team which has brought together industry, universities and local authorities across the region.
“I’d like to give my thanks for the very considerable efforts made by all the stakeholders involved with Bay Fusion and I hope that discussions will continue between them to explore other opportunities.”
Rich Grant, one of the industry team behind Bay Fusion, said: "We hope to continue engagement with UKAEA and others in this exciting technology area to develop further opportunities for industry. We hope this can strengthen a growing supply chain in the region who wish to help meet climate change targets through innovation in low carbon and energy related technologies."
"Many thanks to all our supporters and partners who got behind our nomination. We wish the remaining sites well, including the regional sites still in the competition."