LMC awarded grant to develop Renewable Energy Demonstration Centre on campus

Lancaster & Morecambe College have successfully secured funding through the Walney Extension Skills Fund to create a Renewable Energy Demonstration Centre on campus, as part of their continued commitment to promoting sustainable careers across the region. 

The £48,016 grant is funded by Ørsted, the world-renowned renewable energy company, and will be used to develop the demonstration lab within the newly created Sustainable Energy Hub at the College. It will be designed to demonstrate the latest sustainable technologies, promoting awareness of renewable energy and future skills requirements, including emerging green jobs available within the local community. 

The College will work with local primary and secondary schools, who will be provided with free access to the centre and its resources, and will develop a range of innovative STEM-related activities to raise awareness of sustainability and environmental issues. Equipment will include 2 RE-GEN bikes, which capture and convert the power generated during use into electricity, with an average workout creating enough energy to charge 8 iphones!

Charlotte Rawes, LMC’s Vice Principal, was thrilled to hear that the College had been awarded the grant,

“We are absolutely delighted that Ørsted have granted us this award to develop the Renewable Energy Demonstration Centre, which links directly with their vision and values, by raising awareness of renewable energy and empowering businesses to individuals to embrace new technologies. This will make a valuable addition to our Sustainable Energy Hub, which is due to open in October 2022, and will allow us to promote the growth in low carbon and green careers across our region.”

The grant award forms part of the Ørsted’s £600,000 Walney Extension Community Fund 25-year annual commitment and is part of a wider community engagement programme across the Lancashire and Cumbria coastlines.

Imran Nawaz, Senior Stakeholder Advisor & Community Benefit Fund Manager at Ørsted, said:

“We’re delighted to be supporting innovative education programmes that will help students of all ages develop skills that can help unlock future career options. There are a broad range of high-skilled job roles across many industries, including renewable energy, so it’s important that we encourage and nurture interest in these areas.”

The Sustainable Energy Hub at LMC is due to open later in the year and, alongside the Renewable Energy Demonstration Centre, will include a fully-immersive Virtual Reality suite, a robotics lab and CAD workshop. The College also has a new range of part-time environmental training courses for individuals and businesses, including Electric Vehicle Charging, Domestic Retrofit and Environmental Responsibility in the Workplace. Details are available on our website lmc.ac.uk/sustainability