Redcar and Cleveland College has welcomed the first wave of students to the programme it has developed together with UK-based energy firm BP.
The flagship programme, which is aimed mostly at 16-18 year olds who have recently left school, intends to prime its students with the skills needed for the emerging low carbon and renewable industries. The students also benefit from a £100 weekly bursary while they train.
The social performance advisor for BP’s UK business, Sarah Ryan, said that it was “exciting to see” the 21 students now starting the programme after a year of preparation. She said that the Teesside region could potentially transform into:
“…a world-class, low carbon energy hub, but needs the talent and skills to do so. We are proud to continue investing in young people in Teesside and provide the training and qualifications they need to access high-quality low carbon jobs that will help sustain the region for decades to come.”
Having skilled workers will be essential for BP, which also makes lubricants like the Castrol Hyspin spindle oil, because it plans to build the UK’s biggest low-carbon cluster in Teesside. This will centre on using carbon capture and storage to decarbonise various facilities, such as an 860 MW gas-fired power station. There will also be a production facility for blue hydrogen, with a planned capacity of 1 GW, which is enough to meet 10% of the UK Government’s 10 GW hydrogen target for 2030, as well as other carbon-intensive industries in the area.
