The announcement that Global Energy Group and its partners are investing £110m in building the UK’s largest offshore wind turbine tower manufacturing plant in the Port of Nigg to the north of Inverness and SSE Renewables announcing its placing manufacturing orders with the factory for its pipeline of UK offshore wind projects takes the annual total of new investment in UK offshore wind manufacturing facilities this year to over £1bn.

Commenting on the news RenewableUK’s deputy chief executive Melanie Onn said: “Building major new facilities like this is proof that the UK is securing industrial benefits at scale from offshore wind, as we continue to build the biggest offshore wind projects in the world. Industry and Government are working closely together to accelerate the growth of the sector, creating tens of thousands of highly-skilled jobs and unlocking billions in private investment over the course of this decade, putting offshore wind at the centre of our modern energy system”.

Other major parts of the total came from JDR Cables’ plans to build a new factory in Cambois near Blyth in Northumberland as part of an investment of £130m, GE revealimng a multi-million-pound plans to transform a former steelworks site on Teesside into a high-tech plant producing turbine blades, South Korean company SeAH Wind is investing £260m over three years in an offshore wind turbine monopile foundation factory at the Able Marine Energy Park on the south bank of the Humber, Smulders Projects UK will invest £70m in manufacturing giant offshore wind turbine transition pieces at its site at Wallsend in Newcastle Upon Tyne, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy investing £186m in doubling the size of its offshore wind turbine blade factory in Hull, and GRI Renewable Industries plans to invest £78m in an offshore wind turbine tower factory on the south bank of the Humber.

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