Contract opportunities on the £2bn East Anglia ONE offshore wind farm were outlined by ScottishPower Renewables and turbine suppliers Siemens to more than 500 business people at an event in Norfolk.
East Anglia ONE aims to create up to 3,000 jobs with at least 50% of its content sourced in the UK.
The blades for the turbines will be manufactured at Siemens’ new £300 million factory in Hull.
The networking event was organised by the East of England Energy Group for Siemens and ScottishPower Renewables to engage with businesses and stakeholders in the East of England as quickly as possible to outline the skills they require and the business opportunities to be created by the project.
Opportunities will range from civil and electrical contractors, vessel and ports support, to technicians and logistics.
Jonathan Cole, ScottishPower Renewables managing director, told the audience at Norwich City Football Club that the East of England would become the most “relevant place in global offshore wind. It is up to us us all to make the most of that opportunity.”
East Anglia ONE project director Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables project director for East Anglia ONE, said: “East Anglia ONE will create and support thousands of jobs and together with Siemens we want to do all that we can to source as many of these jobs as possible from the local area. We were very encouraged by the turnout today in Norwich, and we would like to thank EEEGR for their help in putting the event together.”
Siemens will provide up to 102 7 MW turbines for the project, which will be able to power around 500,000 homes. ScottishPower Renewables aims to start construction in 2017, with the first turbines installed by 2019 and the project fully operational during 2020.