Plans Submitted for Huge Blade Manufacturing Plant in UK

Plans have been submitted for GE Renewable Energy’s factory to manufacture blades for offshore wind turbines in Teesside, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said.

Mayor Houchen has also revealed the first images of what the facility will look like once construction is complete.

The new manufacturing plant will be set up and operated by GE-owned LM Wind Power.

GE Renewable Energy took the decision to build the factory in Teesside, in part because Teesside was awarded the UK’s biggest Freeport in the Spring Budget.

The 78,000 square-metre facility, in the South Bank zone of the Teesworks site, will sit alongside a new one-kilometere heavy lift quay.

Ground remediation and clearance works are well underway with more than 40 people currently employed at the site. The facility’s construction is set to begin in October.

Andrew Bellamy, Managing Director at LM Wind Power UK, a GE Renewable Energy Business, said: ”We’re thrilled to be unveiling our plans today for our state-of-the-art facility at Teesside. This is a first important milestone for us. GE Renewable Energy and LM Wind Power are looking forward to continuing on this journey to transform the site and contribute to the creation of this revived location that will form a leading offshore wind industrial cluster in the UK, creating thousands of highly skilled jobs in the process.”

Up to 2,250 jobs will be created to support the construction of GE Renewable Energy’s factory. When completed, GE estimates that it could create up to 750 direct highly skilled jobs and close to 1,500 indirect jobs to support its supply chain.

The first blade is expected to roll off the production line in 2023, with the factory serving Dogger Bank, the world’s largest wind farm located 80 miles off the UK’s North East coast.

”We’re clearing ground and delivering a construction-ready site primed for developers and now we’ve got global investors right here at the UK’s largest Freeport building this massive factory,” Mayor Houchen said.

”A factory producing wind turbine blades, boosting our clean energy ambitions by supplying the growing offshore wind energy sector. Work is ramping up on projects throughout the whole Teesworks site and we’re creating hundreds of good-quality, well-paid local jobs for people from across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool right now, as well as securing thousands more for the future.”