GE Renewable Energy has scrapped plans to build a blade factory in north-east England.
The US turbine manufacturer confirmed to reNEWS: “We are not moving forward with plans for a Teesside facility.”
A spokesperson added the decision has been taken “due to a lack of volume”.
Late last year GE paused work on the offshore wind blade plant to review the situation as it had failed to secure any fresh UK business for its Haliade-X platform from projects bidding into the fourth Contracts for Difference round, as first reported by subscriber-only reNEWS on 16 December.
Following yesterday’s CfD results, it has now made the decision not to proceed.
Siemens Gamesa has dominated contract awards on projects in Allocation Round 4 so far, including lining up deals on the 1.4GW East Anglia 3, 1.8GW Norfolk Boreas and 860MW Moray West, three of the five successful wind farms in the auction. All three awards were reported first by subscriber-only reNEWS.
So far, GE has only one firm UK order for the 3.6GW Dogger Bank complex in the North Sea, which secured a CfD in 2019’s CfD round three.
The company had committed to delivering some blades from the UK plant for the project.
“We remain committed to supporting the growth of UK offshore wind, including powering what will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank,” added the GE spokesperson.
A Dogger Bank spokesperson said: “We are obviously disappointed that GE Offshore Wind is not progressing with its plans for a blade facility at Teesside. We continue to work closely with GE and our other lead suppliers and contractors to support the growth of the UK offshore wind supply chain and associated jobs.”
The spokesperson added over 1250 UK jobs have been supported or created by the construction and operation of the wind farm already, the majority of which are across the North East of England.
“We expect further jobs to be announced as we continue to construct all three phases of the wind farm and build the team that will support its anticipated 35 year operational life,” they added.
GE had originally hoped to open the blade factory in 2023. SeAH Steel, the Korean monopile fabricator, is building its plant on the site earmarked for the blade plant in Teessworks and started construction yesterday.