Down south

Alan Banks and Alun Roberts reflect on South East England’s regional strengths

The South East of England has been a pioneer of offshore wind. Kentish Flats was one of the first developments, and off the coast of Thanet, the 1GW London Array (a joint venture between Eon, Dong Energy and Masdar) is expected to start generating by the end of 2012, and will be the UK’s largest operational offshore wind farm. The South East has two new developments under Round 3 off its coast, Hastings and West of Wight, which once constructed could add a further 1.8 GW of capacity.

The South East also hosts the headquarters for Round 3 developers Centrica, Forewind, and Fluor, who together represent almost half of the total Round 3 capacity. These developers rub shoulders with major turbine manufacturers Siemens and GE.

Establishments
This reflects regional strengths incuding world class universities and R&D establishments; unique skills in composites and aerospace technology; high tech manufacturing; world leading engineering, wind analysis, site surveys and planning consultancies; major contracting and construction companies; port and transport infrastructure; and proximity to the London financial markets.
The South East is strongly represented in all areas of the supply chain. In the developing and consenting phase, companies such as Searoc, PMSS, Metoc and RPS are among the leading providers of environmental consultancy services. And EMU in Hampshire is one of the top providers of site surveys to the offshore wind industry.

In turbine component supply, Vestas’s new rotor R&D facility will make the Isle of Wight a global development hub for blade technology in an area well known for its composites and marine technology excellence.

Farnborough is an international aerospace hotspot and many tier one suppliers are strengthening their capability in wind. BAE Systems and Qinetiq are leaders in radar mitigation solutions but the capabilities of many aerospace technological companies, in aerodynamics, materials and systems integration are being transferred to wind turbine development.

The Solent area’s renowned marine industry complements this expertise, with a significant sector supporting the oil and gas industry, and in South Boats it has the leading supplier of offshore wind workboats in the UK.

Infrastructure
The South East is also well served in coastal infrastructure for project construction, with the ports of Sheerness in the Medway, Newhaven and Southampton well placed to meet the needs of Round 3 developers. Sheerness is a deep water port with no lock restrictions, and is one of the most attractive sites in the UK for turbine assembly and foundation manufacture for projects in both the North Sea and the English Channel. Sheerness has identified 120ha of land that could be developed for offshore wind use.

Supporting the growth of the offshore wind sector is an integrated package of specialist support programmes. Providing the lead is the South East England Development Agency’s (SEEDA) new energy and environment sector team, providing an experienced point of contact for inward investors. SEEDA supports EnviroBusiness, which employs experienced wind industry specialists to provide direct support to developers, ports and supply chain companies under its Global Environmental Technologies and Services programme, and also acts as a referrer to other Government support programmes in the region.
SEEDA and Envirobusiness are organising the Crown Estate Round 3 Supply Chain event on 23 February in Gatwick, at which there will be 250 representatives from around 200 companies. The emphasis of the event is on networking and providing an opportunity for developers to meet the outstanding companies in the region. It will also strengthen the coherence of the wind supply chain in the South East, and start to explore the synergies between these companies and those with expertise in the aerospace, oil and gas, and marine sectors. n

For more information on the Gatwick supply chain event taking place on 23 February visit www.envirobusiness.co.uk

Alan Banks is Chief Executive of EnviroBusiness and Alun Roberts is an associate at BVG Associates.