People need training to get jobs at UK's 'NASA moment' in Nottinghamshire

Energy minister Michael Shanks (right) during his visit to the Laing O'Rourke Centre of Excellence for Modern Construction in Worksop, walking on the factory floor alongside a member of staff, wearing an orange Hi-Viz jacket and white hard hat
-Credit:Department for Energy Security and Net Zero


A pioneering Nottinghamshire energy plant has been described as the UK's "NASA moment" amid new funding to make sure enough people have the skills to work at such sites. The government's energy minister said on a visit to Nottinghamshire today (Wednesday, January 22) that there is a "real shortage" of skills such as welding across the UK that will be needed to build and operate sites like the STEP Fusion project.

The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) plant at the former West Burton Power Station, near Retford, will use a pioneering form of energy production which the government says is "many million times" more efficient than fossil fuels. With the project set to create 10,000 jobs, the government says it wants to plug current skills gaps well in time for the site being built and then becoming operational in 2040.

Energy minister Michael Shanks visited the Laing O'Rourke Centre of Excellence for Modern Construction, located on the Worksop and Bolsover border. The site, Europe's most advanced concrete products manufacturing facility, employs around 600 people and is behind major projects including ongoing work on Everton's new 52,000-seat stadium.

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The site will also be crucial during the construction phase of the STEP plant and Mr Shanks, who was in Nottinghamshire last year for the closing down ceremony of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station, says such sites will unlock a "new generation" of jobs. The energy minister said: "Ratcliffe-on-Soar was such an interesting day because it represented the step change we've already had as a country, the first industrialized country in the world to completely phase out coal in our power system, but it also represented what the future of some of this will look like.

"We're not agnostic about the industrial future of the country, we want to see manufacturing in every community up and down this country and we want to see the jobs that come with it - good, well paid jobs. What clean energy I think unlocks is a new generation of jobs.

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"We want to make sure we're not towing infrastructure in from other countries, but actually we're creating the manufacturing base here. There's also then the export potential of these skills as well, so the UK can be a world leader.

"This country has a legacy and Ratcliffe was a really good example of incredibly talented, experienced engineers. I met many who had been there 30, 40 years manning that power station. What we want to do is create that next generation of of those jobs."

Michael Shanks MP speaks during the closing ceremony at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station on a stage featuring a large image of the plant as a backdrop
Michael Shanks MP speaks during the closing ceremony at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station -Credit:Joseph Raynor/Reach PLC

Funding announced on Wednesday will see the Midlands Net Zero Hub, hosted by Nottingham City Council, receiving an initial £1 million to carry out work identifying where the major skills gaps are across the region and what they are. Further funding could then be approved on the back of that, with potential uses including the establishment of new training centres.

Accompanying Mr Shanks on Wednesday was East Midlands Mayor Claire Ward, who said clean energy projects like the STEP plant could go some way to rebuild the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire communities hit hard by the end of coal mining. The Mayor said: "This region has retired 27% of the coal-fired power generation for this country, so we've more than done our share given that we're only 3% of the population.

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"Now we need to be part of the next stage of getting clean power with the skills and the jobs and the real benefits coming to this region, and that's what this is part of. We need to identify where those big challenges are and how we make sure that some people in those communities, like ex-coal mining communities across Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, are able to access the best skills and the best jobs."

On the West Burton project in particular, the Mayor added: "It is our NASA moment, as it's being described, because it offers such huge potential to develop other things." Mr Shanks added: "We've been in government for six months and we've not been wasting any time on any of this to make sure we fill those skills gaps as quickly as possible."