North East England Organizes Offshore Wind Meetup

North East England’s offshore wind industry and the opportunities open to UK companies from significant upcoming wind farm developments will be the focus of an event taking place in the region in November.

Offshore Wind North East, which is being held on 7 November, follows the government’s recent Contracts for Difference announcement, which gave the go-ahead to six UK offshore wind farm projects, including four off the North East coast, the 1.4GW Sofia and the 3.6GW Dogger Bank.

Several hundred representatives from the industry and its supply chain will gather in Newcastle at the Eagles Community Arena to hear from the developers of these and other offshore wind farms to discover the next stages of development for these projects and the engagement required with the supply chain.

Among the developers presenting are innogy Renewables UK, Dogger Bank Offshore Wind Farm Ltd (Equinor and SSE), Vattenfall, Ørsted and EDF Renewables. Delegates will also have the opportunity to meet with the developers’ project teams, which will be based in either strategic event partner lounges located on the exhibition floor or throughout the networking sessions.

In addition, delegates will have the chance to meet with representatives from GE Renewable Energy, which was this week awarded an order to provide the world’s largest and most powerful wind turbines for the Dogger Bank offshore wind farms.

The event will also feature a number of panel discussions covering themes such as cross-sector innovation, subsea expertise, skills, planning Operations & Maintenance and heavy fabrication capabilities. Presentations will also cover why invest in North East England, and its important strategic role a key offshore wind hub.

More than 80 companies and organisations will be showcasing their products, services and expertise at the Offshore Wind North East exhibition, which will also provide an opportunity to network with clients and partner organisations.

Organised by business development experts NOF, in conjunction with North East England’s offshore wind cluster, Energi Coast, the event is supported by a number of organisations including Strategic Event Partners, innogy Renewables UK and GE Renewable Energy.

Offshore Wind North East is also backed by Regional Event Partners, Invest North East England and Invest Tees Valley as well as other key players in the industry including A&P Group, ORE Catapult, Port of Sunderland and MHI Vestas Offshore Wind.

“North East England has an exceptionally vibrant offshore wind cluster, which has been active since the inception of the industry and can be held up as an exemplar of supply chain and developer collaboration,” Joanne Leng MBE, Deputy Chief Executive of NOF and Deputy Chair of Energi Coast, said.

“The recent Round 3 Contracts for Difference announcements has increased the level of discussion around upcoming offshore wind farm developments, with Offshore Wind North East being the ideal place for companies to come together to meet with developers and strengthen relationships across the local and national supply chains.”