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Taking Advantage

David Terry discusses what the West Midlands can contribute to the development of the offshore wind industry

The expansion of the offshore wind industry here in the UK will bring about opportunities for businesses in the West Midlands; of that there is no doubt. Whilst the wind sector is relatively mature, especially on the continent, the scale of the growth requirement for Round 3 development opens up opportunities as existing supply chains just do not have sufficient capacity. Couple this with the requirement for next generation systems that are more efficient in both construction and operation, more efficient in terms of reduced downtime, and more robust in a challenging offshore environment; this is an area in which the West Midlands can respond.

Expansion
The West Midlands has long since been established as a hub for high quality manufacturing with many engineering companies being present in the region. With the expansion of international trade opportunities this industry has found it harder and harder to sustain or grow business in this area. Some businesses have ceased to trade and others have downsized or already diversified. In order to meet the challenges of today’s economy, the UK, with its higher labour costs must find routes into new markets, and innovative solutions in more specialised areas such as the offshore wind industry to survive.
The Low Carbon Economy and the Offshore Wind initiative provides this opportunity, and not just for manufacturing. The supply chain requirements also encompass environmental and planning consultancy, operation and maintenance, construction technologies and the diverse balance of plant in a large scale industry. The West Midlands has the capability to respond to these opportunities.

The region’s Regional Development Agency (RDA) - Advantage West Midlands - has long focussed on promoting the Low Carbon Economy of the region as a cornerstone of its Regional Economic strategy. As such, Staffordshire University has received funding to set up the Renewable Energy Supply Chain Opportunities (RESCO) project. This project has been developed to provide businesses in the West Midlands with the support they need to enter or expand into the supply chain markets of low carbon and renewable energy technologies.

RESCO is designed to promote regional businesses with high quality market knowledge, access to support from industry specialists from within universities and outside, and to understand how their businesses need to adapt to access new markets. The key support that RESCO is designed to provide, focuses on:
• Knowledge and access to growth markets in the renewable energy sectors.
• UK national and regional initiatives.
• Overseas opportunities, working with UK Trade and Investment.
• Networking with key sector companies.
• High quality business support.
• Understanding technical, quality, financial and service requirements.
• Skills development requirements for new markets.
• Understand how to access new markets through sales or procurement.

The RESCO team have been working on behalf of The Crown Estate, Advantage West Midlands and EMDA on an Offshore Wind Supply Chain event in Loughborough on the 25 February. This has involved working with a number of developers such as Smartwind, Forewind, E.ON, Centrica, EDF-SER, and Scottish Power Renewables, as well and a number of tier one suppliers. The event is one of a series around the country in February and March and is designed to allow regional businesses to understand the market place better, present their capabilities to the key market makers, and to make key contacts on the fast expanding wind sector.

For more information on the Loughborough supply chain event taking place on 25 February visit www.advantagewm.co.uk

David Terry is the RESCO project manager. To find out what this free service can do for regional companies email iesr@staffs.ac.uk or call 01782 294110.