UK's First Green Skills Training Centre Opens

Tredegar Centre Will Give Green Training To More Than 1,300 People Each Year

LONDON, May 14, 2010 - The British Gas Green Skills Training Centre in South Wales was
officially opened today by Carwyn Jones, First Minister of the Welsh Assembly
Government.

The centre in Tredegar is a first for the UK and aims to train more than
1,300 people each year, including local long-term unemployed people. The
Heads of the Valleys area has the lowest employment rate in Wales - 64 per
cent, compared with 71 per cent nationally.

Developed in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government, JobMatch,
Jobcentre Plus, SummitSkills and Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, the
state-of-the-art centre will offer training and qualifications for would-be
energy efficiency assessors and installers of new green technologies as well
as providing opportunities for British Gas engineers to increase their
skills.

Gearóid Lane, British Gas' managing director of Communities and New
Energy, said: "This fantastic new facility is a blueprint for British Gas'
wider ambition to be the hub around which communities benefit from
upskilling, green living and improvements in household comfort and energy
(www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy.html)
affordability."

He said British Gas was investing heavily in this rapidly growing sector
through the creation of thousands of smart meter and insulation engineer
jobs. But the company also wanted to help equip local people with the skills
to deliver these emerging technologies in the communities where they live.

Carwyn Jones said: "The British Gas Green Skills Training Centre presents
an excellent opportunity to support Wales' green energy potential. Earlier
this year, we launched our Green Jobs Strategy for Wales, which aims to
develop skilled jobs for local people and the centre will play an important
role in helping to achieve this."

About the centre

The Green Skills Training Centre features fully functioning heating
installations, energy efficient and microgeneration technologies housed in
specially designed bungalows - from 'single brick' construction to
timber-framed properties.

It aims to provide the best possible hands-on practice and experience,
reflecting the challenges trainees could encounter as qualified energy
assessors or installation engineers.

Among the rapidly growing green technologies on show at the centre are
smart gas and electricity
(https://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy-savers/home-energy-
assessment.htm) meters, solar thermal panels, solar photovoltaic panels that
generate hot water and electricity
(www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/energy/electricity.html),
combined heat and power boilers that use waste heat to generate power, and
ground-source heat pumps.

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    Contact:
    British Gas Press Office
    +44(0)845-072-8002

British Gas Press Office, +44(0)845-072-8002