The supply chain in the East of England has a major opportunity to benefit from upcoming offshore wind contracts, according to the new chairman of the East of England Supply Chain Offshore Wind Special Interest Group (SIG).
Martin Dronfield, who is also director of strategy and business development for James Fisher, said that Scottish Power Renewables’ East Anglia projects and Vattenfall’s Vanguard and Boreas wind farms offer multiple opportunities for the local supply chain.
He was speaking ahead of the Southern North Sea (SNS) conference, a two-day event being held by the East of England Energy Group at the Norfolk Showground on 28 February and 1 March.
He said that local companies should also have the confidence to bid for project work outside the East of England region, and that operational wind farms also offer opportunities in terms of upgrades and modifications.
Mr Dronfield said: “The most important role of the Offshore Wind Supply Chain SIG is to provide a voice and represent the views of the offshore wind supply chain and act as a conduit to highlight issues.
“It is also to provide a means of increasing business opportunities and help to shape the future of offshore wind in the region.”
He added that many of the opportunities are 12-18 months away. The focus in the meantime should be on “remaining competitive”, as the industry focuses on how it will meet the auction prices in the Contracts for Difference regime.
“There is concern among the supply chain about how this will impact on us; we need to focus our energy on how we deal with it and how we protect the supply chain from being at the bottom end of a rolling drive to simply cut costs, perhaps through an industry-wide agreement to a Supply Chain Code of Practice.”
Mr Dronfield will speak on the second day of the conference in a session called Innovation: Offshore Wind, Establishing the New Normal.
The session will also discuss the next generation of floating turbines and power storage; other topics at SNS will include oil and gas, decommissioning, nuclear and skills.