UK supports GBP-180m investment in offshore wind manufacturing

The UK government today announced support for two offshore wind manufacturers that will invest more than GBP 180 million (249m/EUR 210m) in the North-East of England and the Humber.

Grant funding will be provided to SeAH Wind Ltd towards a new GBP-117-million monopile foundation factory at the Able Marine Energy Park on the Humber, and to Smulders Projects UK towards a GBP-70-million investment in new equipment and infrastructure so that it can produce offshore wind turbine transition pieces at its existing site in Wallsend, Newcastle.

The two manufacturers will get grant funding under the GBP-160-million Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Support scheme that was announced by the UK Prime Minister as part of his Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution last year.

The SeAH Wind facility is expected to create up to 750 direct jobs by 2030, while the Smulders Projects UK investment will create and safeguard up to 325 direct jobs.

“With the largest installed capacity of offshore wind in the world, we are determined to grow and nurture a strong, world-class manufacturing base so British businesses and our workforce can fully seize the economic benefits being a windy island nation brings,” said Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) also said that adjustments to the UK’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) support scheme, announced today, add to the government’s efforts to onshore manufacturing in renewables projects. The government published its response to the consultation on the CfD Supply Chain Plan questionnaire. The questionnaire assesses Supply Chain Plans before a project can compete in a CfD auction.

The changes will also enable the Secretary of State for Business and Energy, Kwasi Kwarteng, to terminate a contract as a last resort if generators do not fulfil their Supply Chain Plan commitments.

(GBP 1.0 = USD 1.384/EUR 1.168)

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