Skanska is joining forces with green energy company Ecotricity to create the Skylark joint venture  to build wind farms in Britain worth up to £500M over the next five years. Three development sites have already been identified for Skylark’s first round of investment and they could be producing power as early as 2018.

Funding of £8M for training the next generation of nuclear engineers and technicians has been announced by government. The fund will create hundreds of new apprenticeships and traineeships as part of the Magnox led Nuclear Industrial Partnership. Funding builds on the government’s Nuclear Industrial Strategy which is aimed at making sure Britain can benefit from the £930bn being invested in the nuclear industry over the next two decades. The construction of new power plants, alone, could create as many as 40,000 new jobs in the UK.

Former Atkins chief Keith Clarke has been named as non-executive chairman of Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay, the company preparing to begin construction of the world’s first tidal lagoon power plant in spring 2015.

Renewable electricity projects will compete for £300M Contracts for Difference funding support this autumn – an increase of £95M from the indicative budget published in July, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey announced today. Less established technologies such as offshore wind and marine schemes will get £235M of the money.

Professor John Loughhead has been appointed DECC’s chief scientific advisor. He is currently Executive Director at UK Energy Research Centre.