UK offshore wind manufacturing secures record £900m investment in 2021
RenewableUK data shows record sums are going into new factories and component production to support growing offshore wind sector
Investment in UK offshore wind manufacturing has surged to record levels so far this year, totalling over £900m since January, according to RenewableUK
The trade association said the money was all being funnelled into new factories to produce hardware needed to support the UK’s offshore wind sector, with the government having set a goal earlier this year to scale up capacity to 40GW by the end of the decade.
It means that, only nine months into 2021, the £900m investment in the manufacturing side of offshore wind in the UK is already the highest annual amount since industry records began in 2000, RenewableUK said.
Among the most recent projects to receive investment are plans unveiled just earlier this week by JDR Cable Systems to build a new manufacturing facility in Cambois near Blyth in Northumberland. The project has secured £130m in public and private investment, and is set to create new 170 jobs while also safeguarding 270 jobs at the cable manufacturer’s existing plant in Hartlepool.
In March, meanwhile, GE revealed multi-million-pound plans to transform a former steelworks site on Teesside into a high-tech plant producing turbine blades, creating 750 direct jobs.
RenewableUK’s CEO Dan McGrail hailed the record year for investment signalled “a decade of delivery for the UK’s offshore wind sector” in the 2020s. “The offshore wind industry is making good on its commitments to create tens of thousands of jobs and attract billions in investment in state-of-the-art factories around the country,” he added.
The sector has committed to increase UK-sourced content in domestic offshore wind farms to 60 per cent by 2030. To deliver that goal, grants and business support worth £4.5mhave been awarded so far this year to 76 supply chain companies by the Offshore Wind Growth Partnership, a £100m fund set up by the industry and delivered by the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult to expand existing companies and attract new entrants into the sector, the trade body said.
Other major private sector investment announced since January include a three-year £260m project to build an offshore wind turbine monopile foundation factory at the Able Marine Energy Park by South Korean company SeAH Wind, creating 750 direct jobs. Smulders Projects UK is investing £70m in manufacturing giant offshore wind turbine transition pieces at its site at Wallsend in Newcastle Upon Tyne, safeguarding up to 325 direct jobs.
Meanwhile, RenewableUK also released data this week estimating that the total pipeline of global offshore wind projects now stands at 413GW, including projects which are fully operational, under construction, consented or currently being planned.
The UK retains its top spot with the largest national pipeline at 10.4GW, although China is rapidly catching up with at 9.4GW, and Germany stands at 7.7GW, according to RenewableUK. Globally 35.3GW of offshore wind power is now fully operational, it said.
RenewableUK’s executive director Isabel DiVanna said the report could help direct the UK’s efforts to take a leadership role in the future of the industry: “It’s especially useful to see where opportunities are arising for offshore wind supply chain companies in the UK to export their knowledge and expertise to new markets.”
