By STUART KLOSINSKI, Industrial development manager for Furness Enterprise

Last updated at 14:55, Tuesday, 26 June 2012

WITH Renewables UK trumpeting the potential of windfarms to create jobs in Britain, Vestas announcing over the weekend it has abandoned plans to build a wind turbine factory in Britain, it’s an opportune time to look at where the work is.

PUTTING FURNESS FIRST: Stuart Klosinski, industrial development manager at the Furness Enterprise

The next project off the Furness shore is likely to be Scottish Power Renewables West of Duddon Sands project with a value of £1.6bn. Where will its main equipment and services originate?

Germany to start with – Siemens has the £500m contract to deliver and maintain 108, 3.6MW turbines. Its Danish factory will deliver them.

Denmark’s A2 Seas will install the turbines and Bladt Industries (part of a large Dong Energy-Bladt Industries framework contract) supply foundations. The steel plate comes from Germany.

Transport from Aalborg and installation will be undertaken by Boskalis, SMIT Marine and Volker Construction ( a £115m contract).

Around 122km of power cables by Nexus (Germany – where its factories employ 7,000 people) will be delivered under a framework contract with Dong at a cost of around £100m. Cables will be installed by VSMC (Visser and Smit Marine) – cost £150m, benefiting the Netherlands.

France’s Fabricom Suez delivers the substation design. Lemants NV (Holland) part of the Smulder Group builds it, the transformer comes from CS Holdings and Geo-Sea (both Belgium) will install it.

Turbine base scour protection will be delivered by Royal Boskalis Westminster NV (Holland).

British content from British firms includes:

lGeophysical, bird survey, navigation work;

lThe planned multi-million pound onshore support base at Barrow – expected to be built by a Cumbrian or Lancashire firm;

lSome of the Siemens contract which generates support work and jobs at the existing Siemens base in Barrow.

Looking at wind projects in the round, it is the onshore support bases, their personnel, shipping and scour protection stone needs that offer the best of the Europe dominate where it comes to design and manufacture.

The Department for Trade and Industry in January 2004 said: “The main threats to the UK are...the growing UK wind market being severed by non-UK wind turbine suppliers that local sales offices only in the UK, utilising their own manufacturing facilities overseas.”

It is in this context that Furness Enterprise is currently engaging with Glasgow-based Scottish Power Renewables to seek to maximise local potential for job creation and supply chain growth associated with West of Duddon.

Renewables UK needs to be exert more influence on the government to source production in UK.

We continue to maximise post construction benefits of windfarms by influencing operators such as Dong Energy, Scottish Power to use local resources and develop the supply chain capacity of firms in Cumbria and Furness.

First published at 13:07, Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk