| Britishvolt, the company that planned to build a £3.8 billion battery plant in Blyth, has gone into administration, leaving about 300 workers jobless with immediate effect. The plant was supposed to create 3,000 direct and 5,000 indirect jobs in the electric vehicle (EV) battery sector, and was seen as a case of ‘levelling up’. However, the company’s board reportedly decided on Monday (January 16) that there were no feasible offers to save the company. Frank Gordon, policy director at the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA), said: “This shows the need for a strong UK industrial strategy and supply chain support (like the U.’s Inflation Reduction Act) to seize the huge potential of net zero. “Chris Skidmore’s Net Zero Review report highlighted the opportunities and urgency of doing so just last week. “We are thinking of the staff and their families who are affected by any redundancies and we hope that someone else will take over this project as the site is widely regarded as ideal for making batteries.” Gordon added: “The UK needs at least three such battery plants and we must see rapid progress towards this to achieve net zero.” The UK only has one battery plant owned by China next to the Nissan factory in Sunderland, while the EU has 35 plants that are either planned or already being built. EY, the joint administrators, said the move was “disappointing”, and said they were offering support to all affected staff. Dan Hurd, joint administrator and partner at EY, said Britishvolt had presented “a great opportunity to create jobs and employment, as well as support the development of technology and infrastructure needed to help with the UK’s energy transition”. Hurd said the administrators would now look for options to sell the business and assets. |
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