Wind jobs boom ‘is possible’

A giant wind farm structure that will take shape on the banks of the Tyne offers proof that a clean energy jobs boom in the North East “is possible”, industry chiefs say, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Daniel Holland.

Manufacturing work is now underway on a mammoth steel jacket being built at the Smulders yard in Wallsend.

The four-legged, lattice structure will eventually stand around 190ft tall and weigh almost 3,500 tonnes, providing the foundation for an offshore substation at ScottishPower Renewables’ East Anglia TWO offshore wind farm.

Celebrations of the first steel being cut on the £60 million-plus project came alongside a huge announcement from the Crown Estate, which plans to lease new sections of the sea bed off the North East coast for the installation of hundreds of new wind turbines.

It is hoped that the new developers will generate enough power for around a quarter of all the homes in England and Wales and create up to 10,000 new jobs.

North East mayor Kim McGuinness is pushing for a doubling of the region’s green jobs workforce over the next decade and wants ports in Blyth, Sunderland, and the Tyne to play a massive role in the building, maintenance, and servicing of the UK’s growing wind farm sector.

Jan De Rycker, director of the Smulders yard, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “What we are doing in Wallsend is proof that it is possible. There are always excuses why they say it can’t be done in the UK, [but] we are doing it – we find the people, we are building the projects,  they are within the quality specs, they are on time.”

ScottishPower Renewables CEO Charlie Jordan said the Crown Estate’s announcement was “brilliant” and called for an acceleration of further opportunities.

The Crown Estate has signalled its intent to lease up to 16 gigawatts worth of wind opportunity off the North East coast by 2030 and have those turbines installed up to 2040, with the potential for new North East wind farms to provide up to 50% of UK electricity needs when operating at full capacity. 

Mr Jordan said: “What we need is continuity of work, we need more projects. So the government and the Crown Estate have done exactly what the industry needs and are looking at how they can bring more projects. Now what we need to do is make sure we can bring them as fast as we can and get these projects to fruition.”

He added: “One of the things I get asked a lot is when the jobs are going to come. They are there today. What we need to do is expand on it and make sure there is continuity.”

Smulders bought what was the Hadrian Yard in 2021, having previously been a tenant at the historic site.

The yard has been pivotal to Tyneside’s industrial heritage over the decades for shipbuilding, oil and gas, and now offshore wind businesses.It was also the site of the construction of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.

Around 450 people are now working on the yard, 90% of whom come from the surrounding community.

Mr De Rycker added: “The yard is 150 years old and it followed the evolution of the energy transition. It started with coal, then oil and gas, now offshore wind. There is a big tradition of people working on shipyards and yards like this, so they are happy to do the same work as their fathers and their uncles did. You can feel that pride as you walk on the yard, people like to work in the same location as their ancestors did.”

A key next step to offer a boost to manufacturers on the Tyne would be the removal of troublesome cables running over the river.

Local politicians and businesses have long called for action to bring down the overhead power lines that stretch between Jarrow and Howdon, which present a major barrier to larger ships or wind farm parts travelling up or down the river.

Mr De Rycker said: “At the moment there are certain jacket projects we cannot offer from this yard, because the jackets are just too big and we cannot get them across the cables.

“We get quite a lot of support from the government trying to get the cables down and as long as they are not down, we are targeting other projects for this yard that are high but not as high as the cables. 

The steel jacket foundation is expected to be ready to be sailed down from Wallsend for installation in the southern North Sea in quarter three of 2027, with the windfarm due to be operational by the end of 2028.