RenewableUK says a number of fresh announcements highlight the full extent of the UK’s booming business environment for the offshore wind industry and its supply chain.
The global manufacturing company CS Wind has confirmed that it’s planning to build an offshore wind turbine tower manufacturing plant in the Humber region – the first factory in the UK to build commercial offshore wind towers. This could generate up to 200 direct jobs in the area.
Today two major offshore wind developers have signed an agreement to jointly develop the T riton Knoll Offshore Wind Farm , 20 miles off the coast of Lincolnshire and 28 miles from the coast of North Norfolk. RWE Innogy and Statkraft have announced that they’re entering into a 50/50 partnership to deliver the 900 megawatt project, powering the equivalent of about 800,000 UK households a year.
In addition, Ofgem has announced it has awarded a licence to a British consortium to own and operate the £352 million transmission cable connection to RWE’s Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm, off the coast of North Wales. The link allows the world’s second largest windfarm access to the onshore grid.
RenewableUK’s Director of Offshore Renewables, Nick Medic, said: “This flurry of good news announcements will do much to consolidate confidence in the UK’s world-leading market for offshore wind. The benefits to the UK are clear: thousands of new job opportunities, millions more in investment, and a great deal more home-grown clean electricity enhancing our energy security. These announcements demonstrate that if you want to do business in offshore wind, Britain is the go-to destination”.