North East England’s offshore wind cluster, Energi Coast, has appointed Caroline Lofthouse as cluster manager.
Lofthouse has worked with the cluster group since it was founded in 2011 through her roles at NOF, the business development organisation that delivers Energi Coast activities.
She will work closely with Energi Coast chair Tony Quinn and the cluster organisations to deliver its strategy to showcase the supply chain capabilities of North East England, support innovation and skills development alongside helping to attract inward investment to the region.
Having spent more than 10 years in the energy sector, Caroline has progressed her career with business development, events management, marketing, and commercial experience.
This has led her to becoming head of commercial and partnerships at NOF, a position she will continue to hold alongside this new role with Energi Coast.
Lofthouse takes on the newly created position following Joanne Leng stepping down as deputy chair of Energi Coast after being appointed the new chief executive of NOF, as of 1 January 2022.
North East England’s offshore wind cluster is now made up of more than 30 businesses and organisations, which include, wind farm developers such as Equinor, SSE and RWE, tier one contractors such as GE Renewable Energy and Van Oord, universities, subsea engineering specialists, training providers, manufacturers, and fabricators, as well as the region’s six ports and two Local Enterprise Partnerships.
Lofthouse said: “This is an exciting time to be involved in offshore wind, particularly in North East England, which is becoming a focal point for activity in the sector, particularly with the development of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm and Sofia Offshore Wind Farm and has a role to play in the advancement of floating offshore wind innovations.”