The north-east of England is in line for a green jobs windfall thanks to private investment in the offshore wind industry backed by a grant of undisclosed size from the government’s £160m support fund.
The cash boost is expected to increase the UK’s offshore wind manufacturing capacity in the Humber and Newcastle-upon-Tyne by creating or safeguarding up to 1,000 jobs.
On the Humber, the funding will help SeAH Wind set up a £117m factory to build offshore wind turbine foundations at the Able marine energy park, creating up to 750 direct jobs by 2030.
Meanwhile, at an existing manufacturing site in Wallsend, Newcastle, Smulders Projects UK will receive funding towards £70m of new equipment and infrastructure to enable the manufacture of offshore wind turbine transition pieces that could create or safeguard up to 325 direct jobs.
The funding grants were made available as part of the prime minister’s green economy plan, which includes a pledge to build enough new offshore windfarms to power the equivalent of every home in the UK by 2030.
The pledge would require almost £50bn in investment, and the equivalent of one turbine to be installed every weekday for the whole of the next decade for the UK to grow its offshore wind capacity fourfold to 40GW.
The ambition is expected to benefit many of the world’s biggest offshore wind developers, most of which are overseas companies, but the government is under pressure to make sure that British-owned businesses reap the benefit of the green economy by playing a greater role in the industry’s manufacturing supply chain.
Industry groups claim that by supporting UK companies, the number of jobs linked directly and indirectly to the offshore wind industry could grow from 26,000 to more than 69,800 in the next five years, particularly in the UK’s economically overlooked coastal regions.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business and energy secretary, said the government was “determined to grow and nurture a strong, world-class manufacturing base” so that UK companies “can fully seize the economic benefits being a windy island nation brings”.
He added: “Today’s investments will not only put the wind in the sails of the UK’s industrial heartlands, creating and supporting thousands of good quality jobs, they will also benefit the whole of Britain as we work to onshore more manufacturers, attract inward investment and ramp up export opportunities.”
