MP’s Breakfast Briefing: Dorset Clean Energy Super Cluster

I was delighted to lead the team from Dorset to attend and work closely with Lloyd Hatton, MP for South Dorset, who kindly hosted a breakfast briefing for MPs on the Dorset Clean Energy Super Cluster.

We were pleased to engage directly with Michael Shanks MP, Minister for State for Energy and meet MPs from across the South West region. He was particularly impressed with the public/ private sector, place-based vision in Dorset, and emphasised how important it is to create the conditions for investment to leverage investment into the UK.

Dorset Council attended, led by new Chief Executive Catherine Howe, and accompanied our private sector members Source Galileo, Morwind, Portland Port, UK En, Azuli and Dorset Innovation Park, and were supported by the Coast Communications team.

We discussed the potential of the Dorset Clean Energy Super Cluster (DCESC),  a group of nationally significant projects that can help generate rapid economic growth, speed up the UK’s transition to renewable energy and take positive action on decarbonisation. All projects strengthen national security and resilience.

The projects involve investment of up to £28 billion and will bring jobs, wealth and skills to communities which face significant deprivation.

The cluster includes:
  • A 2GW fixed offshore wind farm in the English Channel, representing an investment of £15 billion
  • Port expansion at Portland, enabling UK offshore wind supply chain development, facilitated by a strategic wind hub port, up to £750 million.
  • Subsea carbon storage (1 gigatonne capacity) in the English Channel – £2.5 billion.
  • Underground, modular salt cavern hydrogen storage (up to 30TWh/year), import, generation – £2 billion.
  • Small Modular Reactor deployment at the Winfrith nuclear site at the Dorset Innovation Park, an existing enterprise zone, to boost growth and bolster new defence and digital employment.

The DCESC is fully aligned to the government’s Industrial Strategy and Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan, and Dorset’s potential as a hydrogen storage hub has been acknowledged by the Prime Minister (PMQs 13 March 2025). DCESC will generate:
  • £17.2 billion in development spend in the UK and a £5.4 billion GVA boost.
  • £1.2 billion lifetime GVA across Dorset.
  • 15,000 – 20,000 construction jobs.
  • 1,600 long-term FTE jobs and £100m GVA per year in Dorset.
  • £149m – £332 million in annual GVA, up to 3,000 construction jobs, 320 long-term jobs from OSW.
  • Power for over 3 million homes.
  • £1.5 billion annual GVA to the wider UK from hydrogen storage and distribution.

Next steps

We agreed a number of actions at the meeting and look forward to maintaining momentum and strengthening the cluster and shaping pathways to delivery into 2026.

To realise DCESC’s potential, we need the government to collaborate with our public private sector partnership. Our strategic objectives remain: –

  • Ensuring The Crown Estate Route Map Q1 2026 confirms a fast tracked Round 6 offshore wind leasing round in the English Channel – expediting a deep fixed solution for 2GW of power before 2035.
  • Port expansion to enable UK supply chain development for offshore wind at Portland to support Celtic Sea Cluster delivery. A Public  / Private Partnership opportunity.
  • Establishing a price for carbon to enable a merchant model of carbon trading.
  • Support for a licence for carbon capture and storage in Lyme Bay.
  • Confirming a second hydrogen storage project in the South of the UK, to supply Project Union, with a support scheme to enable a model for modular hydrogen storage for up to 30 TWh/year.
  • Engagement with GBE to include Winfrith in the SMR pipeline to power a new generation of AI/ data and defence industries