>October Events / Business Editorials / Events in Norfolk and Suffolk / the coast / Waveney Valley October 21, 2019
‘Home’ of East Anglia ONE windfarm officially opens in Lowestoft
Operations and Maintenance base will serve the windfarm for its 30-year lifespan
Up to 100 long-term roles will be supported by the base
The £25m investment will see hundreds of supply chain operators use the site
The state-of-the-art new operations and maintenance building for East Anglia’s largest offshore windfarm to date has officially opened its doors.
The agreement for the base to be constructed at Associated British Port’s Hamilton Dock on Lowestoft Port was announced in November 2015, when the site was just an area of scrub land on the edge of the port. Construction of the building began in July 2018, with the ground officially being broken by Waveney MP, Peter Aldous, and is part of a £25million investment made by ScottishPower Renewables into the Port of Lowestoft.
Today the site is the ‘home’ of the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm, a joint venture between ScottishPower Renewables and Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG), supporting the day-to-day operations including marine coordination, specialist offices and warehousing.
The operations and maintenance building will be the base for up to 100 full-time employees, including skilled engineers and technicians, for the 30-plus year lifespan of the windfarm. The site is already a hive of activity welcoming hundreds of contractors and supply chain operators, contributing substantially to the local economy.
Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables Project Director for East Anglia ONE, said: “Lowestoft is the home of East Anglia ONE, and to see the operations and maintenance building fully up and running really demonstrates that fact. It’s not just the base of operations for the windfarm, but a symbol of our long-term commitment to the region and our drive to grow the offshore wind industry in Lowestoft and East Anglia.
“In just 14 months, the construction team have turned an empty site on the Port of Lowestoft into a state-of-the-art establishment and we are grateful for all of the work which has made the base into what you see today. Most of the operations and maintenance team are based within a few miles of the site and have worked on other local windfarms, bringing with them great knowledge and expertise. This has allowed us to perfect design elements of the base, making it super-efficient and reinforcing the East of England’s leading position in the sector.
“With the windfarm due to be complete next year, the building is already buzzing with local employees and contractors all helping us to create clean, green energy to meet the UK’s carbon reduction targets.”
Waveney MP, Peter Aldous, said: “The opening of the East Anglia ONE operations and maintenance base is a big moment for Lowestoft and the wider Waveney area. It demonstrates a significant investment in our town. East Anglia ONE is providing important job opportunities for people locally and across the region, both offshore and onshore, as well as through the local supply chain.
“Lowestoft has a proud maritime heritage and the substantial growth of the offshore wind industry, particularly off the coast of East Anglia, will see more generations making a career out at sea. It is great to see Lowestoft leading the way in the UK’s offshore wind revolution.”
Ed Northam, head of GIG in the UK and Europe, said: “With first power recently being generated and now the opening of the operations and maintenance building, it’s great to see the long-term legacy of East Anglia ONE coming to fruition. This is testament to the hard work of the ScottishPower Renewables team and we look forward to celebrating more landmark moments as the project approaches completion.”
This is one in a series of milestones achieved recently for ScottishPower Renewables and East Anglia ONE as the project approaches completion, with the windfarm successfully producing first power on 12th September 2019.
Located 43km off the Suffolk coast, the £2.5 billion project could provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of more than 630,000 homes annually*. It is the first of four offshore windfarms ScottishPower Renewables is developing in the region. For more information about East Anglia ONE visit: www.spreastanglia.co.uk
Story by: Tom Harvey at Pier Marketing
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