An offshore business is aiming to make waves in the burgeoning US market after securing investment.
Green Marine Solutions, based in Sunderland, specialises in coordinating all the logistical aspects of offshore operations, including personnel and vessels, communications systems, software and maritime surveillance. The firm works with clients in the offshore wind industry and has already been involved with high profile projects in South America and mainland Europe, as well as off the North East and East Anglian coasts.
Now it is set to use a £50,000 Small Loan Fund investment, secured with help from NEL Fund Managers, to establish a presence in the US offshore wind sector. The company, which counts energy businesses including EDF, SSE Renewables and Siemens among its clients, is also expecting to create a number of new jobs through the growth of the business, which could see it break through the £2m turnover barrier for the first time this year.
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It was one of the first UK companies to work in France on an offshore wind farm, has been providing a service in Belgium for the last eight years and has also added two more wind farm construction projects to its pipeline in the last 18 months.
Crispian Jones, founder and managing director, has just visited the US to talk to potential customers about the services available. He said: “Companies working on complicated projects in immensely challenging offshore environments need to know that they can rely absolutely on the detailed logistical support that makes their operations possible.
“We’ve built a reputation over the last decade for providing the essential project foundations that these operators need and believe that the quality of the team that we’ve built and the unrivalled service standards to which we work make us stand out from the competition. The US offshore wind sector is set to explode, and this investment will help us to take advantage of the huge range of opportunities that the renewables sector will offer in the coming years, both across the Atlantic and within European markets.
“The funding model that NEL offers was the best available fit for our business model and the investment team was very helpful in enabling us to bring in the growth capital we were looking for.”
Mike Guellard, senior investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, said: “Low-carbon investment is one of the North East Fund’s main priorities and we’re actively building a portfolio of ambitious firm across the region that are succeeding in this sector. Green Marine Solutions has a proven track record in a growing market and is now equipped to work towards its next growth objectives.”
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