A LEADING figure in the recent development of Grimsby as an offshore wind port has lifted the lid on huge opportunities that are emerging.
Mick Turner headed up Centrica's operations and maintenance team as it established Port of Grimsby East as the base to serve Lincs, Lynn and Inner Dowsing, the three wind farms off the Lincolnshire coast.
The £3-million operations and maintenance base, now followed by E.on and Dong – with more likely – was a huge statement for the town, underlining the level of investment, supply chain potential and, most importantly, the number of jobs to be created.
Now after a career with the utility giant that spanned 21 years, first in gas then offshore wind, Mr Turner has launched his own consultancy business Sinnodyne, offering operational, safety and commercial help, support and advice to power asset owners, operators and their supply chains.
He was a key speaker at a recent event put together by Grimsby Renewables Partnership, the GROW: Offshore quango and RenewableUK the wind trade body.
Imparting his advice to businesses looking to enter or further their involvement, Mr Turner said: "I love the wind turbine business. It is a great industry to be in, a growing industry and great opportunities exist now and in the future, particularly for those based in Grimsby.
"There is a bewildering array of companies out there. It is important when looking at trying to supply services and goods to decide where you are in the food chain."
Looking at the three phases – development, construction and operation – he said they tended to be well structured.
"If you are talking about putting £1-billion in the water you want to know it has been spent correctly."
Giving tips, he said: "Be clear about what you offer, try to understand who the site manager is, who the technician is, and who the key 'go to' people are."
Looking at operations, he said: "Turbines tend to have a window of five years where original equipment manufacturers provide a fully warranted service. If you are to supply to a turbine, you need to speak to Siemens. There is an opportunity coming up in Grimsby now where we are at the end of this five year window and owners are asking 'can we do this better ourselves?'.
"We need to think about how we are going to provide these services. Business are now looking at managing strategies post warranty period.
"It is a case of going back to the owners and their representatives, and saying 'we are here, we can provide vessels, eye wash stations, life jackets, and we can service it.
"It is a changing scene and according to where the asset is in the life cycle depends on who you want to be speaking to.
"It is also safety, safety, safety. The offshore wind industry is an inherently dangerous place, and they want people who work on wind farms to think about safety first.
"Ensure products are safe, that people you send out are safe. Getting the job done is important, but not injuring anybody is more important. I have pulled 50 people off a wind farm because of a safety incident. People have to understand. The cost was massive, but that was more important to us than getting the job done."
Chris Holden, chairman of Grimsby Renewables Partnership, also advised of the importance of ensuring the right qualifications to work offshore are obtained. "The average price to get a technician through training is £6,000, with personal protective equipment about £1,500," he said. "Before you have done anything you have spent £7,500 and it is very easy to do the wrong course. Check with who you are intending to work with."
Fred Mead, of GROW: Offshore, gave a state-of-play, whetting appetite for supply chain opportunity still out there. Taking stock of the three rounds of development that are being played out, with the Humber corridor vital to all, he said: "The first round was for people to learn about it, and my did they learn. They got experience of working in water, the logistics of getting stuff out there and back, with a lot of activity around here with Lynn and Inner Dowsing."
He explained how scale has multiplied, both in terms of turbine numbers per farm and size, with blade span going from 80m to 154m, which is where both mass energy generation, and economic activity, becomes significant.
"UK content for London Array was somewhere between 5 and 10 per cent. When Government is subsidising to such a massive amount, they want the value to come to the UK, not elsewhere in Europe. That is the driver for the push for UK content."
He said the subsidy framework – an issue that kept many waiting – was now there to work from.
"Strike prices have been fixed, Government is supporting a contract that will let them know what their income will be for the next 20 years. This new system of Contracts for Difference has made it more predictable. Global accountants are happier now, they have a business plan with a top line to work to, a view of what is likely to occur.
"That gives confidence to the industry. Developers also have to have a Supply Chain Plan, and this is what gives the UK an opportunity. It opens the door and puts pressure on original equipment manufacturers and developers. You still have to be best when it comes to quality and price, better than the EU competition, but the incentive (to look) is there.
"That Supply Chain Plan will have to focus on innovation, skills and competitiveness."
So how does a company get involved?
All speakers told of the importance of working out where in the chain you are, and who is the best person within the buying organisation to contact.
"We need to find out where towers are going to be made and then see what ancillaries are going in, be it cable trays, ladders, rapid descent equipment etc ... They are massive pieces of equipment, with huge lifting requirements – they need to be near to the port. They cannot be carting these things along roads any more. These are the sort of things that could be attractive to Able UK once it gets its teething troubles out of the way. Towers, foundations and blades need a site with deep water access, right next to where they are going to be built. We are hopeful for that, and hopeful for the area for that.
"Nacelle covers (the box that houses the vital equipment) are again something we want to bring to Immingham-area. They are big, light and full of air, not the sort of thing you want to spend a lot of money transporting about. Again it would be a dedicated facility.
"People are still searching for all sorts of marinisation solutions, whether that is performance materials, enclosed units, or other solutions, and this is where innovation can thrive.
"Opportunity drips down, from the crew vessels that have transformed Grimsby Fish Docks, to the town hotels, taxis and office equipment suppliers."
Headline-grabbing national stories have emerged of late with some big projects being terminated, and with fracking on the agenda too, some ill-informed assumptions have been made that one energy source is making way for another. Industry experts have been keen to state that is not the case, but with the controversy around energy, price and impact on the landscape, science doesn't always get the column space or air time it deserves. Seb Rae, RenewableUK market intelligence manager, said: "There was 52GW in the pipeline in 2012, that was trimmed slightly last year and even more so this year. The pipeline has become a lot more stronger, projects have gone on to planning and consenting, This is a fitter and leaner pipeline, looking at the most efficient and marketable projects going forward, which helps bring security to the market. Right now we have 4.8GW consented, 10.8 GW in planning, and quite a few expected to come out in the next few months. And 20 per cent of this pipeline is around the Humber, it is an 8GW opportunity.
"New Contracts for Difference last August, have provided a Supply Chain Plan, that is going to bring competition, skills and innovation to the UK, and hopefully that means work, and more jobs. We are speaking about significant players. A lot of turbine manufacturers are having a serious look at what their footprint is in the UK, it is important for them to be able to win contracts. We have been spending our days with developers working on the UK proposition.
"The Government has to be confident a developer can deliver on skills, innovation and competition. The turbine manufacture is over 50 per cent of the total cost, so it is very important to the turbine manufacturers, they have to look at things very seriously."This article first appeared in Business Telegraph, available online now as an eBook here.
