Grimsby could see around 4,000 people employed in offshore wind industry over the course of five years, according to Offshoreenergy Denmark.
With three Centrica’s wind farms already functioning, and Dong and E.ON building two wind farms offshore Grimsby, Hans Pedersen, of Offshoreenergy Denmark said: “There are already 195 direct jobs in Grimsby. When we look at the further two wind farms under construction, that is another 120. Then there are the others. There are a further 3,400 jobs in total to come, which makes 3,700 jobs in the Grimsby area by 2020.”
Before the matchmaking event in Grimsby, North Sea Offshore Services Group, Offshoreenergy Denmark and the Danish Wind Industry Association, together with UK hosts Team Humber Marine Alliance, Grimsby Renewables Partnership and World Trade Centre Hull & Humber visited Able Marine Energy Park, Port of Grimsby East and training facility at Stallingborough, writes Grimsby Telegraph.
“It is the right place to service the North Sea. There is a really huge amount of existing and planned projects, a huge amount of turbines. If we draw a circle with a circumference of 125km, with the centre in Grimsby, and look at how many turbines are installed in this area, and how many more are to come, it is huge,” added Pedersen.
He added that they have established contacts and are in the process of identifying local suppliers and stakeholders that is a part of plan developed with big suppliers such as Dong Energy, Siemens, E.on, Vattenfall etc.
“They have asked us to do this to make sure the right companies and right skills are here, that everything is ready for when they need it,” Pedersen concluded.
Image: offshoreenergy