Bosses in Humber’s offshore wind industry react as Government announces £48bn investment
The government released its deal on Thursday morning, with ambitious targets to scale up the offshore wind industry by 2030
Mark O’Reilly, CEO at Team Humber Marine Alliance (left) and Clark MacFarlane of Siemens Gamesa
The top voices in the Humber’s offshore wind industry have welcomed the unveiling of the government’s sector deal.
The new deal, announced on Thursday morning, paves the way for renewable energy companies to invest up to £48bn in offshore wind over the next decade, as the UK targets 30GW of clean electricity to be produced by 2030.
Mark O’Reilly, CEO at Team Humber Marine Alliance, said the sector deal would “enable the Humber to cement its position as a global centre of excellence in offshore wind.”
He said: “This sector deal is brilliant news for the Humber. It will unlock enormous investment in the supply chain and will be a huge boon to the region’s well-established offshore wind supply chain organisations.
The first monopile installed at Hornsea Project One
“With the Humber having already established itself as an advanced offshore wind cluster along with our proximity to the North Sea and European offshore wind farms, we are uniquely placed to capitalise on the immense opportunities which will arise as a result of the sector deal, creating even more jobs and economic wealth for the region.
“The Humber provides a rich source of accredited suppliers already working with leading offshore renewable energy companies.”
The sector deal set out plans to triple the number of highly-skilled workers in the offshore wind industry to 27,000 by 2030.
It also aims to increase the number of women working in the sector, from 16 per cent to at least 33 per cent.
The Humber’s offshore wind sector was highlighted in the deal as a priority for the UK’s ambitions to produce 70 per cent its electricity needs from low-carbon sources.
Mr O’Reilly said: “Team Humber Marine Alliance has been at the forefront of building an advanced offshore wind supply chain for over 10 years.
“With strong industry support and close collaboration with partner organisations along with effective supply chain development programmes we have helped enable the cluster to compete on a national and international scale.
“The sector deal will enable the Humber to cement its position a global centre of excellence in offshore wind.”
The renewables giant is currently building blades for Hornsea Project One, set to become the world’s largest wind farm.
Clark MacFarlane said: “It has been two years in the making but this Sector Deal has been a positive journey for the industry.
“For Siemens Gamesa it is great to have a home market in the UK that has certainty through regular auctions and an ambitious deployment level.
“We have already been looking at the future because we have invested in the facility constantly. Since we built the facility we have built a training centre, and that’s trained 6,000 people over the last year, and 40 per cent are external, so that’s industry training.”
By Phil Winter
Courtesy of Hull Daily Mail