Almost £8 million will be invested in projects across Cumbria which will drive a green recovery from COVID-19.
Electricity North West is bringing forward the investment to provide immediate support, part of Ofgem’s Green Recovery scheme, launched to kickstart the recovery by speeding up the delivery of shovel-ready projects.
Electricity North West announced it had identified a number of possible projects in February, when it launched a public consultation to help it prioritise £15m of investments across the region.
The consultation highlighted a demand for electric vehicle charging points at motorway services, including at Todhills, north Carlisle, while work is due to start immediately on a scheme to reinforce the electricity network in the Morton area of the city, and in Windermere.
Electricity North West is also to create a £1 million fund to support EV charging hubs along major A roads across the region, and will invest in the infrastructure around St Cuthbert’s Garden Village.
Meanwhile, the company will monitor demand on the region’s low-voltage network, allowing it to optimise capacity to support the adoption of low-carbon technologies like heat pumps and EVs.
The public consultation was run as part of a national exercise to ensure that communities across the UK were involved in deciding where and when to focus investment to drive the green recovery, which is part of the Government’s 10-point plan to make the UK net zero carbon by 2050.
