THE SOUTH West is working with Chinese investors and partners to become a world-leading sustainable energy innovation cluster it has been revealed this month (November 2020).  

The region is leading on innovative renewable energy relationships with China says a Somerset company that is assisting UK innovators to partner with Chinese companies.

Bridgwater-based Aspen Waite China UK (AWCUK) CEO, Darren Horne explains: “The South West has an abundance of experts and innovation projects in this sector who have created many important new technologies associated with sustainable energy that have an important role to play worldwide.

“We’re now looking to find more innovation from the region to help the UK meet its targets to reduce carbon emissions. The UK Government is committed to renewable energy production with set targets including carbon neutrality by 2050. We share these mutual objectives with China, which has a similar target for 2060.”

AWCUK, working with the South West Business Council (SWBC), has formed a trading partnership in China to support the development of UK innovation in the renewable energy sector.

“Through our strategic trade partnership with SWBC and The South West China Alliance, we’re assisting innovators who have products and concepts they would like to develop and bring to market in the low carbon sector. 

“Together we are supporting the export of UK sustainable innovation. We provide those within the low carbon sector with an opportunity to expand, using our existing specialist R&D and incubation provision. We can then also support them further with greater opportunities to capitalise on the global market. 

“China’s economic development strategy partly relies on partnerships with UK innovators to meet its own growth, export and carbon neutral targets. The latter we share as a common objective as global citizens.

“Innovators and companies with innovative products within this sector in the UK are encouraged to get in touch with us to benefit from partnerships with China, which include investment, manufacturing and sustainable partnerships for mutual objectives.”

Working alongside SWBC, AWCUK is exploring initiatives whereby UK and China can jointly develop new renewable energy concepts and covert ideas to impact.

AWCUK is part of the Aspen Waite Group, which was founded in 1993 as a firm of Chartered Accountants offering services to corporates and individuals. The company has rapidly grown to be a UK top 100 accounting firm.

The Group is more recently known for being among the top UK firms for innovation and R&D. More recently with the globalisation of the Aspen Waite brand, the company has taken a leading role in the protection of our planet, focusing on specialist sectors including renewable energy and recycling technologies for future generations of the planet.

Perry Lewis, who is Head of Corporate Finance and leads Renew Aspen Waite’s sustainable industries’ team, says: “The low carbon sector is vital to the future of the UK as the Government wishes to power every home in the country by renewable energy by 2030. At the recent UN General Assembly, China’s President Xi Jinping announced via video the country’s plans to tackle carbon dioxide emissions. He said China’s aim was to reach a peak before 2030 and to have carbon neutrality by 2060.”

The South West, and its partners, have created a consortium of interests to develop the technology and create investments to fulfil government policy. They wish to make a significant contribution to the important global challenge of the reduction of climate change.

SWBC Advisory Board Member and expert marine energy sector specialist, Chris Marrow says: “The UK is committed to offshore energy production and is developing innovative strategies surrounding this, which in due course must be matched by a willingness to fund other types of renewable energy production, including wave offshore energy development. This will offer the UK and its collaborators the opportunity to share in the carbon reduction required to achieve net zero and sustainable energy futures for all.

“It should be noted that alongside the development of renewable and off shore energy technology, the development of carbon sequestration should run in parallel, and this is also a sector in which the South West of England is leading, with SWBC having close links to the North Devon Biosphere, which is a UNESCO site.

“The South West is fast becoming a world leader in the sustainable energy sector. Projects being undertaken in the Celtic Sea and Bristol Channel will be replicable in other parts of the world. For example, water flow power generation can be an important sector for the River Congo, where SWBC is already involved. We’re working with ‘mini grids’ using renewable energy also as part of the SWBC Africa partnership, and China also have mutual interest with the UK in this region.”

AWCUK has very close links with Chinese Economic Development governments, and with offices in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as in most regions of the UK, including its head offices in Bridgwater, Somerset. 

The company has a history of developing new sectors of cooperation, strategic partnerships for public and private sector, and overcoming difficulties created by differences in regulations, as well as social and business cultural differences. 

Anyone interested in finding out more about AWCUK, should visit https://chinauk.co/.