Coventry's plans for Greenpower Park energy revolution
Coventry City Council has announced that plans to place Britain at the epicentre of the green industrial revolution have taken a significant leap forward with the launch of Greenpower Park.
With the West Midlands Gigafactory as its anchor tenant, the ambitious project is designed to foster world-leading collaborations between industry, major academic institutions and stakeholders, to drive the UK's ambitions in leading the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable energy future.
The plan is to create an end-to-end electrification and clean energy ecosystem at Greenpower Park campus in Coventry - the only site in the UK with approval for a large-scale battery production facility with capacity for up to 60GWh - enough to power 600,000 electric vehicles and benefiting significant incentives associated with investment zone status.
Combining endorsement from nine local universities and a local business sector, the Council says Greenpower Park will rapidly establish itself as a leader in electrification and clean energy - with the campus supporting the development of new businesses and manufacturing facilities. It is understood that there will be a unique package of incentives, combining investment zone status, approved planning permission and an unprecedented regional incentives package to kick start development.
With a strategic focus on electrification technology development and manufacturing, the centre aims to attract an unprecedented inward investment of £2.5 billion - creating 6,000 highly skilled jobs and placing the UK at the forefront of critical clean energy technologies - and is reported to have already attracted keen interest, with a number of Asian battery manufacturers actively considering moving to the site.
Capitalising on a future workforce of over 210,000 local students enrolled in relevant degrees and vocational courses to meet the electrification sector's needs, Coventry City Council say that the project's backers believe that Greenpower Park's launch will prove a pivotal moment in the UK's transition to an electrified economy, as well as a significant leap forward in battery technology development and sustainable manufacturing practices.