A small Scottish firm said yesterday it had signed a deal with a state-owned Chinese manufacturer in a bid to develop and market steel structures for the global offshore wind energy industry.
SeaEnergy Renewables (SERL), based near Aberdeen, has linked up with Chinese company Nantong COSCO Ship Steel Structure Co.
Joel Staadecker, SERL’s chief executive, said the agreement involved gaining access to a low-cost manufacturing base in China.
He said the UK, where up to 9,000 offshore turbines could be needed by 2020, was the first target market and jobs could be created in the subsequent assembly of wind turbine sub-structures, towers and access systems for offshore windfarms.
But it was premature to say what the employment implications and value to SERL might be, he added.
SERL employs just 14, but it was hoped this would grow “significantly”.
Mr Staadecker said: “We have an understanding, but have not yet engaged in detailed business planning or allocation of responsibilities between the partners. SeaEnergy can contribute through our experience in the offshore environment.”
The agreement was signed in Shanghai with Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond present.
He is in China leading three Scottish trade missions and said he would be disappointed if there was not £100million of new investment in Scotland following the missions.
CBI Scotland’s assistant director David Lonsdale said: “Official figures show trade with China to be worth £300million a year to the Scottish economy, so if this additional £100million investment does come to fruition then it would herald a significant improvement in our trading performance with one of the globe’s largest and fastest-growing economies.
“However, if we are to see a sustained step change in our overall export and inward investment performance then we need a much more ambitious target for export growth, protecting support for exporters and inward investment from public spending cuts, and pump prime funding for more direct air links to key overseas business destinations.”
Mr Salmond hailed the deal involving SERL – an 80%-owned subsidiary of Westhill-based energy investor SeaEnergy – as an exciting and ambitious new venture.
The first minister said: “SeaEnergy’s expertise in delivering deepwater offshore developments in the oil and gas industry puts it in a leading position at the vanguard of the rapidly-expanding offshore renewables industry.
“Scotland has unrivalled natural resources and established expertise in energy engineering, particularly offshore, providing a considerable market opportunity for wind energy technology and equipment providers, and for potential investors across the world.
“By harnessing just a third of the potential wind, wave and tidal resource off Scotland’s coasts, by 2050 we could power Scotland seven times over, enabling us to become a massive exporter of clean, green energy, generating an estimated £14billion in value and supporting around 60,000 jobs.”