FEATURE SPONSOR
HIGH HOPES AS EAST OF ENGLAND CHASES WIND AND GAS BUSINESS
FOCUS ON ORBISENERGY PANEL DEBATE
Mr Gray said the East of England was now well positioned in the thinking of the offshore industry and it was important to see industry leaders coming to meet the region’s supply chain. He agreed with the panel that the East of England was ideally placed for manufacturing foundations and towers and the assembly of turbines and would also prove to be the ideal base for O&M.
Ranjit Mene, head of UK offshore sales for RE Power, said the region should play to its strengths and being close to the massive East Anglia Array windfarm plans was important although more investment in ports might still be needed.
Andrew Fox, business relationship manager with Areva, said that locality was key when it came to O&M and the region was perfectly placed to use its long-term expertise, knowledge and skills in a more sustainable part of the business.
SKILLS
James Gray (seated) with (from left) Ranjit Mene, of RE Power; Alstom Wind’s Andrew Compton: and Andrew Fox, of Areva.
Delegates to the EEEGR2013 conference went home enthused by more evidence of the renewed dash for gas and a fresh blast of windpower to boost the East of England energy industry.
Experts from three world-leading wind turbine producers agreed that the East of England was ideally placed to support the development of the massive wind farms planned for the Southern North Sea including those north of Belgium and Holland.
FURTHER ENCOURAGEMENT There was further encouragement for the sector, however, with the prospect of future contracts with the impending Dudgeon windfarm off North Norfolk.
Halfdan Brustad, Statoil vice president, said that having completed their role in Sheringham Shoal windfarm, they were now moving on to the £2.4bn Dudgeon project where they would be tendering for major contracts mid-2014 and operating by 2017.
UK INVOLVEMENT
“We want a high UK involvement in the project with huge opportunities for the local supply chain,” he said, adding that cost efficiency would be key.
A special windpower session saw the three turbine representatives join a panel debate moderated by James Gray, inward investment director for EEEGR and the East of England Energy Zone.
Skills were also on the mind of Norwich North MP Chloe Smith who told the conference that the region’s focus should be on encouraging young people into the industry.
Energy and engineering
offered exciting and engaging roles for young people and the sector needed to remember that tomorrow’s engineers are today’s primary school pupils.
She commended EEEGR for its work to attract new skills into the industry and praised the University of East Anglia for working towards a School for Engineering. She hoped such initiatives would complement her support for the Norwich for Jobs campaign.
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