A JOBS boost creating up to 500 new posts and hundreds more in support industries was hailed as “a red letter day for Grimsby.”
The announcement by Dong Energy that it is expanding its hub coincided with an announcement from Offshore Painting Services and Vento to operate in the offshore wind industry from Grimsby. Former chairman of the Grimsby Renewables Partnership, Chris Holden, said the paint firm was one of the ancillary businesses which will prosper in the wake of the burgeoning renewables industry. It too announced its plans to expand yesterday.
Mr Holden said: “It is a red letter day for Grimsby.”
More: 500 wind jobs will secure Grimsby’s future for a generation1
Among the other businesses to receive a boost from the renewables sector is Humberside Airport where a helipad supporting operations in the North Sea is the second biggest in the UK after Aberdeen. More helicopters will be used to monitor the condition of wind turbines, he said. He added there will also be more jobs created in security, taxiing, catering and cleaning services, as well as engineering, thanks to the expanding renewables industry.
Mr Holden said: “In Grimsby we are in the right place. As a business you do not want to be travelling too far from your asset.
“In Grimsby we have a great infrastructure.”
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Chris Holden
Leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, Councillor Ray Oxby, said the renewables industry was lifting the prosperity of our local area. The acting Speaker of the House of Representatives in Massachusetts, America, Patricia Haddad said Grimsby’s crown as the biggest wind farm hub in the world could be shortlived as her state is planning a wind farm twice the scale of the UK’s North Sea operations on the Atlantic seaboard.
Dong is one of the firms bidding for a contract in the US next year. The senior politician, on a tour of Grimsby, said: “It would appear they (Dong) have somewhat of an advantage from their experience here in the UK.
“We would like everyone one to enjoy stable energy rates as they have done here. We always try to do it better and engineer it better.”
Mr Oxby said: “Here in Grimsby we are the closest to the offshore wind farms in the southern North Sea and have existing port infrastructure, a maritime heritage and skills base.”
He told an audience at Dong Energy’s headquarters at Grimsby’s Royal Dock of the tentative beginnings of the sector in Grimsby nearly ten years ago.
He said more than 100 turbines are now operational, providing clean energy to 350,000 homes. A total of 400 jobs had been created since 2007.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The future: The new service operations vessel that will be sailing out of Grimsby in support of wind farms next year.
The leader said: “Dong Energy is currently building the Race Bank wind farm which will have the potential to power half a million homes and should be operational by 2018 as well as the onshore works having started for Hornsea One.
“We are seeing exciting expansion by Dong Energy at the port of Grimsby as part of these developments and it’s my pleasure to visit their operations and maintenance facility.
“This gives us confidence in the local area of a long and prosperous future for North East Lincolnshire providing new investment and new job opportunities.”
He said the council’s success in securing funding for improving the lock gates and a 1.8 million new boat hoist servicing vessels and expansion of Catch training centre at Stallingborough had helped pave the way for further investment in renewables. Flood defence schemes for Grimsby and Immingham had also provided the best infrastructure for future development and investment in North East Lincolnshire by businesses.
Mr Oxby said: “Work around our town centres, new hotels, new shops, better transport and the recent national Armed Forces event, quoted as North East Lincolnshire’s Olympic moment bringing national leaders and over 180,000 people, show what we can do.”
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter34
References
- ^ 500 wind jobs will secure Grimsby’s future for a generation (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ More of today’s Grimsby news (www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk)
- ^ Facebook (www.facebook.com)
- ^ Twitter (twitter.com)