Pembrokeshire is playing its part in “teaching the world” how to adapt the new technologies of carbon capture and storage, Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps said during a visit to Pembroke Net Zero Centre.

The Energy Security Secretary toured the centre last Friday, meeting the director and station manager and apprentices working at the facility – those who are right at the heart of this new game-changing low carbon industry - to witness first-hand the Welsh industries at the heart of the UK’s plans to Power Britain from Britain.

Back in 2021, RWE, one of the world’s leading energy companies, launched the Pembroke Net Zero Centre (PNZC) as a major initiative towards decarbonisation.

With Pembroke Power Station located at its heart, the PNZC will draw on extensive knowledge and expertise to demonstrate a pathway towards decarbonisation.

Grant Shapps said: “It’s an amazing place to be, Pembrokeshire is bringing together the combination of a lot of amazing things.”

He praised the works being undertaken on the site: “There’s world-leading science and research and quality jobs; I’ve just been meeting some of the apprentices, they are very excited, they think hydrogen is the future.”

Mr Shapps hailed the Pembrokeshire facility as a ‘global exemplar of British expertise’, maximising the potential of carbon capture to decarbonise industry while boosting jobs and growth across the region.

PNZC is made up of three distinct pillars: green hydrogen production, the development of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea and decarbonisation of Pembroke Power Station, including studies for carbon capture and the feasibility of hydrogen as a fuel.

He said carbon capture would offer “good jobs and being at the cutting edge; teaching the world how it can be done”.

Referring to the recently submitted plans for a major hydrogen fuel generation scheme at the former Puma Energy site in nearby Milford Haven, he said: “It’s not a coincidence that is coming from the same region, very much a cluster of technologies, that’s why what you see at Milford Haven and [shared freeport] Port Talbot really stiches it all together as we move from a pollution to a hydrogen technology. It all really sits well together, it’s an exciting part of the world to be in.”

He stressed that the technology would not lead to the ending of fossil fuels overnight.

“Things go hand-in-hand; I don’t subscribe to the view that we can switch off tomorrow, that would be ‘cloud cuckoo land’.

“We believe this transition has to happen hand-in-hand; a lot of jobs in the industries are comparable, with the same skills, we’re very keen to move this on, it’s not going to happen overnight.”