WORKING AT HEIGHTS - Wind Energy Network

SPONSORS OF TYNE & TEES FEATUREBIG PLANS AFOOTThe winds of changeare starting to blowfor the North Eastof England. Withmany of the Round 3Offshore wind farmsbeing located off theeast coast of England,the industrial regionson the banks of the ofthe river Tyne and river Tees are proving ideal locationsfor companies looking to supply into this exciting arena.Present situationThe Tees already has the yards of Heerema at Hartlepool andThe Wilton Group on the banks of the Tees looking to supplyheavy fabrications into the offshore wind market and TAG (TeesAlliance Group) have recently invested over £20m in a newfacility for the manufacture of monopiles and towers.Tees Valley COREAdd to this the cable lay capabilities of Deep Ocean and the newOffshore Processing Centre at TATA Steel at Hartlepool and onecan see why the Tees Valley is one of the Government’s CORE(Centre for Offshore Renewable Engineering) regions.North Eastern CORESimilarly the North East region’s other CORE on the Tyne is fastbecoming a hive of renewable activity. In 2012 Technip choseGateshead for the location of a second Offshore Wind office inthe UK and SMD have continued to grow at Wallsend supplyingboth ROVs (Remote Operated Vehicles) and subsea cable layingtractors to the offshore market. In addition the Port of Tyne 40ha site at North Shields and the old Swan Hunters ship yardoffer excellent potential as logistics hubs or locations for newmanufacturing capabilities.OGN (Offshore Group Newcastle)One company based on the Tyne has “big” plans to supportthe UK offshore wind sector. OGN (Offshore Group Newcastle)has planning approval for a 39,000m2 by 56m high newmanufacturing plant on the Hadrian yard at Wallsend.Regional Growth Fund grantThe company have also been provisionally awarded a RegionalGrowth Fund grant for the factory at which they intend to massproduce jacket wind turbine foundations for the deeper waterareas of many of the Round 3 wind farm sites.State-of-the-art fabrication facilitiesWhen completed the facility will bring state-of-the-art fabricationfacilities back to the area of the Tyne that is famous forproducing the record breaking liner the Mauretania and alsofor the world’s first steam turbine powered ship, the Turbinia in1894. Once again the Tyne looks set to lead theworld in the world of marine heavy fabrication.Offshore Group Newcastlewww.ogn-group.comClick to view more infowww.windenergynetwork.co.uk45