Foundations laid for North East offshore wind hub

Plans to establish the North East as a hub for the UK's wind energy industry received a further boost this week with the award of £3m in funding for 10 projects working to improve support for offshore wind farms.

Backed by three regional development agencies, the Northern Wind Innovation Programme awarded funding yesterday to 10 consortia involved in projects to improve AC/DC electrical conversion, enhance offshore wind turbine foundations and develop new components suitable for offshore turbines.

The award looks set to trigger the development of a new factory for manufacturing offshore wind turbine foundations in the region, after engineering firm Xanthus Energy confirmed it would lead a consortium working to build a full-scale demonstrator of its foundation technology.

Speaking to BusinessGreen.com, Lewis Lack, managing director at the company, said that he planned to have the new foundations ready for use on the first Round 3 offshore wind projects when installation begins in 2015.

"We're doing some costing studies and will then be ready to build a full-scale demonstrator, which we hope to have in the water next year," he said.

He added that the foundations can be assembled onshore and then towed into place offshore, making them easier and cheaper to install by avoiding the cost of hiring heavy lifting vessels and reducing overall installation costs by 15 per cent.

The company is currently in talks with offshore wind farm developers and hopes to have its first order secured by the end of the year.

The firm applied for funding from the Carbon Trust's offshore wind accelerator programme and scored highly, but was not chosen to be part of the scheme. However, the new funding from the regional development agencies has allowed it to move forward with its plans.

The funding awards should also bolster Siemens' interest in the region after projects involving the engineering giant and the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield were among those to receive funding through the scheme.

Both Siemens and GE are said to be eyeing up the region for a potential turbine manufacturing base after US firm Clipper Windpower announced last year that it is to locate a blade manufacturing plant alongside Narec's blade testing facility in Blyth.