Round 3 offshore wind farm announcement prompts manufacturing action21 January 2011

Following the announcement of Round 3 of the UK's offshore wind farm development plans last year, several wind energy companies have now confirmed their intentions to set up manufacturing facilities here.

German energy technology giant Siemens is to build a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Hull, while Spain's Gamesa has said its turbine manufacturing base will be in Dundee, with Vestas also signalling a return to the Isle of Wight for manufacturing activities.

Round 3 (see below for details) sees 32 GB of capacity set to be installed by 2020 – one quarter of the UK's energy needs.

Both Siemens and Gamesa deals depend on port development and Associated British Ports is spending £100 million on developing facilities at Alexandra Dock, Hull, with the development complete by 2014, in the case of the Siemens investment.

Siemens is expected to invest £80 million in the construction of a manufacturing plant that would employ 800 by 2014.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "This announcement by Siemens and ABP is a real vote of confidence in the future of offshore wind energy."

Yorkshire Post reports that Hull Council leader Carl Minns said: "It's absolutely like Aberdeen, if you replace oil and gas with wind. Siemens could do for Hull what Nissan did for Sunderland or Toyota did for Derby and the Midlands." Up to 10,000 jobs could be created in the area.

Hull is in close proximity to three of the biggest offshore wind farms currently being constructed in the world - Hornsea, Dogger Bank, and off Norfolk - all within 12 hours ships journey time. These sites will be home to 5,000 turbines, while export opportunities are also anticipated.

For Vestas, Reuters reports that it will open a new blade development and test centre on the Isle of Wight this summer. The company closed a turbine factory on the island in 2009, with the loss of some 600 jobs; this new venture will support 400 positions. Vestas had maintained a research facility on the island, however.

For Gamesa, the Financial Times reports it is to invest £40 million with the potential to create up to 300 jobs. Gamesa is looking to set up a centre for offshore engineering in Glasgow, and a logistics and manufacturing centre in Dundee, but is in talks with Edinburgh-based ports operator Forth Ports on the latter.

In addition to these firm intentions, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries announced last December that it would spend up to £100 million over five years on an offshore wind turbine research and development centre in Edinburgh, bringing up to 200 jobs by 2015.

Reuters further reports that Swedish utility Vattenfall is planning to open a new UK headquarters office in London. The utility reportedly said that it expects to invest billions of pounds up to 2015 into Britain's wind industry, described on Thursday at the Nordic-Baltic summit held in London as its "number one priority" in the area of renewable energy, the report adds.

European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) statistics show that Britain has moved to the world's leading position for installed offshore wind capacity, at 1,341 megawatts (MW), followed by Denmark and the Netherlands.

Round 3 details -

[] Moray Firth zone, Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd which is 75% owned by EDP Renovaveis and 25% owned by SeaEnergy Renewables – 1.3 GW

[] Firth of Forth zone, SeaGreen Wind Energy Ltd equally owned by SSE Renewables and Fluor – 3.5 GW

[] Dogger Bank zone, the Forewind Consortium equally owned by each of SSE Renewables, RWE Npower Renewables, Statoil and Statkraft – 9 GW

[] Hornsea zone, Siemens Project Ventures and Mainstream Renewable Power, a consortium equally owned by Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Project Ventures and involving Hochtief Construction – 4 GW

[] Norfolk Bank zone, East Anglia Offshore Wind Ltd equally owned by Scottish Power Renewables and Vattenfall Vindkraft – 7.2 GW

[] Hastings zone, Eon Climate and Renewables UK – 0.6 GW

[] West of Isle of Wight zone, Eneco New Energy – 0.9 GW

[] Bristol Channel zone, RWE Npower Renewables, the UK subsidiary of RWE Innogy – 1.5 GW

[] Irish Sea zone, Centrica Renewable Energy and involving RES Group – 4.2 GW

Andrew Allcock

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