UK Government Investment in Offshore Wind Manufacturing Brings Scottish Jobs Boost

Press Release 03/12/2021
UK Government - The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

A cash boost of more than £110m in UK offshore wind manufacturing will support more than 400 jobs in North-East Scotland after the UK Government, Scottish Government and private investors pledge new funding.

Announced today (Friday 3rd December), offshore wind manufacturer Global Energy Group (GEG), in a joint venture with Spanish offshore wind manufacturer Haizea Wind Group (HWG), will receive grant funding through the UK Government’s £160 million Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Support programme, subject to completion of due diligence. This will bring the total public and private investment into the UK’s offshore wind sector to more than £1.6bn this year alone.

GEG and HWG will use the investment to develop a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility making wind turbine foundation towers at the Port of Nigg on the banks of Cromarty Firth in Ross-Shire. This facility, alongside the previously announced GE blade facility on Teesside, will supply the Dogger Bank wind farm, substantially boosting the UK’s offshore wind manufacturing base. Dogger Bank, when completed in 2026, will be the largest offshore wind farm in the UK and capable of powering up to six million homes across the country. Today’s investment follows the COP26 UN Climate Change summit in Glasgow last month.

Total UK Government investment in the sector is creating and protecting almost 4,100 jobs in Scotland, the Humber Estuary and across the North-East of England - while building the UK’s offshore wind capacity as the country ends its reliance on coal for power by 2024.

Further funding to the project is being delivered by the Scottish Government via Highlands and Islands Enterprise, with the joint investment providing a huge boost to the local economy in North-East Scotland.

As the UK focuses on building a secure home-grown renewable energy system, reducing its reliance on unreliable fossil fuels and exposure to volatility in global wholesale energy prices, the deployment of offshore wind is set to accelerate in the next decade to ensure greater energy independence.

UK Business and Energy Secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, said:

“The UK is already a global leader in offshore wind with the largest installed capacity in the world, and by ensuring we have the manufacturing base to match, local workers and the supply chain can share in the sector’s success.

“This joint investment shows the strength of our Union as we tackle climate change together. We will see highly-skilled workers in Scotland produce key parts for a wind farm situated off the English coastline - delivering a greener future for Scotland and the UK.”

UK Government Minister for Scotland, Malcolm Offord, said:

"This is a tremendous jobs boost for Easter Ross and the surrounding area. We have long been recognised for our expertise in the energy industry and now our skilled workforce is leading the way in our transition to a greener future. It's especially fitting that this area, synonymous with the oil boom in the 1970s, is leading the way as we embrace new cleaner sources of power.

"This joint investment will not only safeguard existing jobs, it will create new ones as we journey towards Net Zero by 2050 and continue to build back better and greener from the pandemic."