Mike Amesbury MP visits MCS, powering home-grown energy at Sci-Tech Daresbury
15 March 2023
On Friday 10 March, Mike Amesbury MP for Weaver Vale visited the offices of Daresbury-based MCS to discuss the importance of installing home-grown, renewable energy across the UK.
MCS, the standards organisation for small-scale renewables, is leading the way in ensuring that standards, quality, and consumer protections are upheld when low carbon energy and heating systems are installed in UK homes.
Mike met with the MCS team – including Ian Rippin, CEO and David Cowdrey, director of external affairs – at the company’s new, high specification, sustainable offices at Sci-Tech Daresbury.
The group celebrated that such vital work to decarbonise the UK’s homes is happening in the heart of the Weaver Vale constituency, showcasing the green jobs making an impact in the local area and beyond.
Last month, Mike Amesbury MP also attended the launch of the MCS Low Carbon Landscapes campaign at the Houses of Parliament. Using MCS data, the event examined the role that small-scale renewables play in reducing our dependency on fossil fuels, while building new skills and contributing to the growth of green jobs nationwide.
Mike Amesbury MP said of the visit: “MCS is working to help transform the way we heat our homes, reduce consumers’ bills and build the new homes of the future. The company’s work in defining the quality of renewables alongside the data and insight they provide is invaluable for the sector and policy.
“One of Labour’s key policies is to deliver one hundred percent clean power by 2030. It is only by retrofitting or building new homes with MCS certified technologies such as solar panels, battery storage, or heat pumps that we can ensure UK homes are low carbon, fit for the future, and cut people’s energy bills.”
Low Carbon Landscapes comprises several data-driven tools, including the MCS Data Dashboard, which provides near-real-time dynamic visualisations of the uptake of small-scale renewable technologies across the UK. The MCS Data Dashboard makes all the data in the MCS Installations Database (MID), the most comprehensive reference for domestic renewables, publicly available and free-to-access for the first time.
To date, more than 1.5 million MCS certified installations have been carried nationwide. In 2022, a total of 163,341 certified installations were registered with MCS across the UK, a 65% increase compared to installations recorded in 2021. Across the North West, there were 996 renewable systems deployed last year, meaning to date the area has 8,275 certified installations, representing 5.79% of all UK homes.
Ian Rippin, CEO of MCS, added: “It was a pleasure to welcome Mike Amesbury MP to our office to discuss our excellent progress so far and understand the challenges ahead. Only through genuine collaboration between industry and policymakers will we reach our net zero ambitions and provide truly home-grown energy for the UK.
“Our Low Carbon Landscapes report shows the progress that is being made towards decarbonising UK homes and our data paints a dynamic picture of renewables deployment in near-real-time to provide much-needed intelligence on the low carbon heating and energy sector.
“We need dedicated politicians like Mike to take the insight we provide and help translate it into meaningful action at Government level to guarantee future energy security and combat climate change.”