Further growth to meet demand for offshore wind in Hull and Grimsby has been highlighted by Associated British Ports.
The owner and operator of the Humber’s largest quays is looking to follow the lead of partner Siemens Gamesa in expansion, while eyeing a trebling of operations and maintenance capability on the South Bank.
Andrew Reay, head of offshore wind, updated the industry at OWC 22, and reflected on the huge strides made by the industry that has necessitated expansion.
Read more: Orsted chief outlines mission ahead as Humber role in offshore wind ambition explored
Reflecting on the initial Green Port Hull joint investment in 2016, he said: “At the time it provided exactly what was required by industry and Siemens Gamesa - a significant amount of storage, significant quays, roll-on roll-off capacity to support assembly without occupying heavy lift quays, but the market size then grew significantly as did the physical size of the components, which have equally grown significantly.
“With Siemens Gamesa committing to expand it has become clear that ports of this size, even in the past five years, are regarded as a little too small for the size of the industry.
“We have had to think about how we expand ports like Green Port Hull to satisfy industry.
“We have started looking at potential expansion options, alongside Siemens Gamesa or creating more multi-user port facility, and that is to be decided.
“There are significant opportunities for us to invest with options in the wider Port of Hull and Green Port Hull. These investments are substantial in nature and although there is ambition to develop tens and tens of gigawatts in the future we need support from government on direction of travel to help us make investment decisions.”
Humber International Enterprise Park has just emerged, with freeports highlighted, while Able Marine Energy Park, with freeport status, was also represented at the event.
Turning to operations and maintenance, Mr Reay said: “There are significant further opportunities just off the coast here, and we would certainly be looking to attract new operators to Grimsby. We have the capacity we can offer to that market.”
Round One and Round Two projects focused on Grimsby Fish Docks, with Orsted making the move to Royal Dock for its huge hub and the emerging service operation vessels that are used to work in the farms, with more in the pipeline for the region.
RWE has now built there too, with Triton Knoll, Sofia being added - and potentially more. Total Energies and Green Investment Group are bringing forward a further farm directly off the Humber, which is in the bidding for seabed leases with The Crown Estate.
He said the 5GW now controlled could add a further 9.8GW in the next decade.
Andrew Elmes, business development director for Siemens Gamesa updated on the £186 million investment, via video link to Bridlington Spa.
“Progress on the expansion is going well,” he said. “We are using the same contractor behind the initial blade facility, and all the construction work spend is in the UK, with a third in Hull and 75 per cent in Yorkshire.
“All the structures have now gone up and first blade production is planned for January 2023. In the meantime we have got to manage construction around ongoing production.”
A lull on full project loadout has arrived following Hornsea Two’s completion, with Sofia the next in 2024/2025, while blade-building for a Scottish wind farm is keeping the 1,000-strong team within the manufacturing facility busy. A total of 1,700 blades have now been completed, and eight wind farms served.
