A record 800 people and nearly 60 exhibitors are expected to attend a two-day offshore wind show, which started yesterday at Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
The fifth Offshore Wind and Supply Chain Conference and Exhibition was opened for the second year running by First Minister Alex Salmond.
Included in the programme was the first renewable-energy share fair, an initiative borrowed from the oil and gas industry, which allows supply-chain companies to meet offshore developers and manufacturers to find out about the timing and procurement processes for large contracts.
The companies presenting their forward plans for the next 18 months include Areva, EDP Renewables, Global Energy, Mainstream Renewable Power and FoundOcean.
Morag McCorkindale, chief operating officer of Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (Areg), who helped to organise the share fair initiative, said: “Many companies with offshore oil and gas roots in the region are already operating in the offshore wind sector and driving forward the sector’s growth and diversification.”
Lindsay Leask, senior policy manager at the show organiser, Scottish Renewables, said: “This conference is a real indicator of the size and strength of the industry and reflects the levels of enthusiasm there is to ensure offshore wind becomes a significant player in providing renewable electricity in Scotland.”
At a dinner last night, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing echoed the message in the first minister’s keynote speech.
He said that last year’s announcements by offshore developers Areva and Gamesa to invest in manufacturing sites in Scotland showed the Scottish Government’s emphasis on the sector was paying off.
With tougher carbon targets than elsewhere in the UK and support to skills training and port infrastructure development, he added that the government was providing more certainty to investors.
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