Transforming coastal communities
Over the last decade, we’ve invested over £10bn constructing our UK offshore wind farms. This is helping to transform coastal communities across the UK through investment in local facilities, the creation of high-skilled jobs and the development of competitive, export-orientated local supply chains. We have operational hubs in Barrow-in-Furness, Liverpool, Grimsby and in Brightlingsea.
Wind farm technicians at our operations base in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.
Once the largest fishing port in the world, Grimsby experienced the effects of post-industrial decline as its main economy slowed. Working with industry, the coastal town has developed a new vision focused on offshore wind and the renewable energy sector. Watch the video below to find out more about how offshore wind is helping to transform Grimsby through sustainable, green growth and an economic ‘ripple effect’ that will continue for years.
Ørsted has established a strong presence in the coastal communities in which we operate. Since we opened our office at the port of Grimsby in 2014, our continued investment, including a £10 million extension to our East Coast Hub operations and maintenance (O&M) facility, has helped breathe new life into the dockside. The award-winning facility, built by local company Hobson and Porter, currently supports over 370 workers. These are long-term, high-skilled jobs, that will be required for the 25-year lifetime of our wind farms.
We worked with more than 50 local suppliers and contractors during the construction of Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm in the Irish Sea.
We are committed to supporting the development of competitive local supply chains that not only support the construction and operation and maintenance of our UK wind farms but also support us in our other markets. For over ten years, Ørsted has worked closely with UK companies to deliver significant multi-billion-pound infrastructure projects, helping to generate regional economic development.
In the Humber, our pipeline of orders has supported the development of a £310 million Siemens Gamesa blade manufacturing facility. The Hull based site now employs over 1,000 people and is delivering a multi-million-pound turbine order for Hornsea Two offshore wind farm. We have also witnessed a number of offshore wind suppliers grow and expand their businesses, including offshore engineering businesses, C Wind and James Fisher and Sons, and offshore substation specialist Semco Maritime – who have all established offices in Grimsby.
Our projects are also helping to drive regeneration in the North West and Barrow-in-Furness, where our multi-million-pound investment in our operations and maintenance facilities on the Port of Barrow led to new ABP facilities, including a new state of the art lead-in jetty. On our most recent project in the Irish Sea, Walney Extension offshore wind farm, we worked with more than 50 local suppliers and contractors from Carlisle down to Lancaster including; Furness Fluid Power, MPM North West Ltd and Underwater Diving Services.
Offshore wind is creating well-paid, high-skilled and long-term jobs in coastal communities and helping to raise the aspirations of the young people in those areas. By 2030, the offshore wind industry could support over 27,000 direct jobs and many more in the supply chain. Across the UK, we are promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) related careers and partnering with national and regional training and educational bodies to develop our future workforce. For example, we have partnered with the Grimsby Institute in Grimsby and Furness College in Barrow-in-Furness to deliver a three-year wind turbine technician Apprenticeship Scheme. We are also supporting charities such as Teach First,
focused on addressing educational inequality.
We help to fund six RNLI lifeboat stations which are close to our offshore wind farm locations.
We want to have a positive and lasting impact on the communities in which we operate. We are proud to support local social and environmental projects through our voluntary Community Benefit Funds, which provide approximately £1.3 million each year to deserving projects in the regions in which we operate. We also directly support, other initiatives, including the RNLI, the Great Grimsby 10k and the Thames Estuary Oyster project that is helping to reintroduce oysters to the marine environment (partnering with the BLUE Marine Foundation).
We’re collaborating with industry, leading UK universities, local business networks and local authorities to create regional energy hubs and centres of excellence. For example, we are championing the Humber as a blueprint for green, prosperous, sustainable development that can be translated elsewhere in the UK and around the world. Home to the world’s largest operations and maintenance facility and soon the world’s largest offshore wind farms, Hornsea One and Hornsea Two, the Humber is leading the way in offshore wind. We’re also excited to be involved in the second phase of the Gigastack project, which is exploring the potential for industrial scale renewable hydrogen in the Humber.