North East supply chain calls time on Round 3 developers

Round 3 offshore wind energy developers are rapidly running out of time to secure the supply of UK infrastructure and equipment needed to construct 25GW of capacity in UK waters by 2020.

That is the stark warning from supply firms in the north east of England, which claim they are ready to invest in new buildings and machinery to support the industry but cannot do so without the backing of developers.

In recent months, all eyes have been on bringing new turbine manufactures to the UK, with GE, Siemens and Mitsubishi agreeing to set up shop backed by government funding.

However companies further down the supply chain have warned they are not getting enough support and are worried that if companies leave investment too late much of the business will go to China.

One of those companies is fabrication yard Heerema Hartlepool, which is already establishing itself as a manufacturer of offshore wind farm substation platform topsides.

The firm is in discussions with landlord PD Ports to expand their facility by 50 acres to start producing jacket foundations to support the wind turbines. However, its own investment will be heavily dependent on financial backing further up the supply chain.

“From a fabrication point of view, there’s a huge mount to tackle and UK PLC needs to be able to go after it, rather than see it all go to China,” said Frank Moran, Hereema Hartlepool managing director. “Our question has always been, who’s going to build them? Where are they going to build them? And who’s going to pay for them?”

Heerema’s concerns were echoed by PD Ports, which is hoping to commit Forewind consortium to using Hartlepool Dock as an onshore base for the massive 9G to 13GW Dogger Bank zone.

“There’s this blind view that these things are inflatable,” said Paul Barker, PD Ports development director. He estimates it would take around six months to build a new shed for a blade manufacturer and up to a year to strengthen the quay.

Barker has urged developers to start investing now and said he even threatened Forewind that PD Ports could pull out of wind energy if they did not make a decision soon.

One possible solution is for governments to insist that turbine manufacturers source their equipment from the UK.

“What we really want to see is nacelles and towers, but particularly nacelles which have lots of small parts that can be made in the UK,” said Colin Ribton, project manager at Middlesbrough-based welding and joining specialists TWI.

“It would be interesting to see what obligation would be on these turbine companies to source parts in the UK, because there’s a lot of public money going in to them,” he added.

But others believe the supply chain should not wait for turbine suppliers to set up shop before investing.

JDR Cables is frequently hailed as a success story in doing just that. The company opened a new facility at Hartlepool Dock last year to supply cables for renewables projects. It has already won three major UK renewables contracts and is now expanding its facilities.

“I think we should not worry too much about what we’re going to get and focus more on what we can get. If the port isn’t big enough to house buildings for turbines than we should look at operations and maintenance,” said Steven Parfitt, JDR general manager.

Further up the coast in Newcastle, others are similarly optimistic. Shepherd Offshore is carrying out a £40m regeneration project to build the Renewable Energy Park - a renewable energy hub – on the site of the old Neptune shipyard.

The site has already secured its first tenant with Clipper Windpower, and is in discussions to shortly secure a second tenant from the supply chain or a manufacturing plant.

“What we’re trying to create is the conditions to suit the industry. The land is available so we can design the facilities [according] to the specifications of the individual investor,” said managing director Bruce Shepherd.