Carbon neutral drive boosted by new Greater Manchester and Octopus Energy Partnership

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester (Photo from Tackle4MCR / PA)

The Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has been commenting on a a new partnership between the authority and Octopus Energy Group in its bid to become carbon neutral by 2038, 12 years ahead of the UK target date.

The agreement focuses attention on the twin themes of Science and Innovation which will see Octopus Energy trial the uptake of new green energy tariffs for customers in Greater Manchester.

Through the partnership, Octopus Energy will also create 300 high-skilled jobs, ranging from data scientists and heat pump engineers to frontline customer support.

Overall, the ambition is for Greater Manchester to become the UK's leading Green city-region, taking a prominent role at the forefront of the UK's technological evolution by trialling and facilitating the smart and innovative new technologies that will support the country's net zero ambitions.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

'We are really pleased that Octopus Energy have committed to expand their operation and are opening their first hub in the North of England her in Greater Manchester. The partnership will see the creation of 300 jobs and the trials for the uptake of new green energy tariffs and technologies will help Greater Manchester residents to go green at the same time as saving money.

'This has always been a place of innovation, and every day we're making new strides towards a low-carbon economy, finding new ways to power our businesses and our communities. We're showing that the transition to net zero is one with massive potential to make things better for our residents, and it's great to have Octopus on board.'

Octopus Energy will look to increase the flexibility of Greater Manchester's energy supply through its flexibility arm KrakenFlex - a cloud based technology platform managing the real-time energy supply and demand of clean energy technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps.

The Greater Manchester Combined Authority states that all of these measures will be core components of Greater Manchester's vision for a Local Energy Market, improving the way the city region generates, consumes, and transfers energy. Greater Manchester is the first and largest city region to develop Local Area Energy Plans. The GMCA states that by April next year it will know how to heat and power every street in every borough. Locally generated energy will increase regional security of supply as energy prices increase globally, it says.