Opportunities open to UK companies from upcoming offshore wind farm developments will be the focus of an event taking place in the north east of England next month.
Offshore Wind North East, which is being held on 7 November, will see several hundred representatives from the industry and the supply chain gather in Newcastle at the Eagles Community Arena to hear from project developers.
The meeting follows the government’s recent Contracts for Difference announcement, which gave the go-ahead to six UK offshore wind farms, including four off the north east coast – Sofia and Dogger Bank Creyke A, Creyke B and Teesside A.
Among the developers will be Innogy Renewables UK, Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farm joint venture partners Equinor and SSE, Vattenfall, Orsted and EDF Renewables.
Delegates will also have the opportunity to meet with project teams and representatives from GE Renewable Energy, which is the preferred turbine supplier to the Dogger Bank developments.
Panel discussions will also take place covering themes such as cross-sector innovation, subsea expertise, skills, planning operations and maintenance and heavy fabrication.
Over 80 companies and organisations will showcase their products, services and expertise.
The event is being organised by business development company NOF, in conjunction with north east England’s offshore wind cluster, Energi Coast.
Support will also come fom Invest North East England and Invest Tees Valley as well as industry players including A&P Group, ORE Catapult, Port of Sunderland, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind, Energy Central, Siemens Gamesa and Vilicom Energy.
NOF deputy chief executive and Energi Coast deputy chair Joanne Leng said: “North east England has an exceptionally vibrant offshore wind cluster, which has been active since the inception of the industry and can be held up as an exemplar of supply chain and developer collaboration.
“The recent Round 3 Contracts for Difference announcements has increased the level of discussion around upcoming offshore wind farm developments, with Offshore Wind North East being the ideal place for companies to come together to meet with developers and strengthen relationships across the local and national supply chains.”