Dr Dermott Roddy of Renew Tees Valley, Mark Treasure, Plant Manager at Hartlepool Power Station, Bill Bates, Director of Refining at D1 Oils, Sean Sutcliffe, CEO of the Biofuels Corporation and Jerry Cooper and Jon Helliwell from the Centre for Process Innovation were all keynote speakers at the Powering Ahead event, hosted by the Tees Valley Engineering Partnership.

The lunch-time event, held at Hartlepool Historic Quay, was attended by more than 100 individuals, from engineering organisations, educational establishments, chamber of commerce and local government, who were all keen to learn more about how the Tees Valley is developing as a high quality ‘energy hub,’ becoming a pioneer in the energy sector and creating more engineering opportunities for local organisations of all varieties and sizes.

The topics covered during the 90-minute session were highly varied, ranging from Dr Roddy’s overview of the Tees Valley as an ‘energy hub,’ due to its unique geographical positioning and high concentration of experienced companies and personnel, to a detailed study of Biofuel production and its uses, covered by Bill Bates and Sean Sutcliffe.

Jerry Cooper and Jon Helliwell offered a more in depth insight into current energy operations at the Wilton site, particularly the National Industrial Biotechnology Facility (NIBF) and the Fuel Cell Applications Facility, with Mark Treasure balancing the afternoon with a look at Nuclear Energy and the current and future opportunities it is creating in Hartlepool in particular.

Powering Ahead 2007 was sponsored by Dickinson Dees, one of the UK’s leading law firms, with offices in Newcastle, the Tees Valley and York, as well as various branches outside of the North East.

Simon Lewis, Partner at Dickinson Dees, said: “At Dickinson Dees our fundamental rationale is based around offering services which will add value to our clients’ businesses. This ability to listen to a client’s needs and meet their requirements wherever possible has helped us to double the size of our business in the last five years. We are proud to have been able to share some of this success with the region’s business community by sponsoring the TVEP’s Powering Ahead event and I was particularly intrigued to see how the local engineering sector is also adapting to customer needs in order to ensure their own future.”

Malcolm Potter, Manger of the Tees Valley Engineering Partnership, said: “Powering Ahead 2007 was designed to give people a real insight into how our local engineering firms are leading the way in the development of new energy-related technologies, which is in-turn increasing their particular need for local engineering expertise. Our keynote speakers all spoke rather candidly about their work and what it means for the region as a whole and I would like to thank them for sharing those details with us. I hope everyone who attended was able to take something positive away from the event, even if it was only to recognise the world-class work that is currently ongoing here in the Tees Valley and we would encourage all interested companies to join TVEP so that we can act as the focal point on their behalf.”