A massive market that should soak up the capacity of several UK offshore fabrication yards and create thousands of long-term jobs in the manufacture of offshore wind-turbine substructures is there for the taking.
That is, according to the managing director of Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab), John Robertson. He has calculated that as many as 800 turbines a year will have to be planted in UK waters over the next 10 years to meet the 2020 target of 30-plus gigawatts (GW) of maritime wind capacity.
Today, BiFab is the only yard in Britain geared up to manufacture offshore turbine substructures, though Energy understands that SLP, of Lowestoft, is poised to leap into that market by leasing the former Amec Hadrian yard on the River Tyne, in the English north-east.
BiFab is currently gearing up to churn out 100 jacket-style substructures a year at Methil, on the Firth of Forth, and expects to comfortably employ 600 people, maybe more, on this giant production line.
Additionally, Robertson reckons that the Arnish yard, at Stornoway, could keep up to 200 busy manufacturing piles and jacket tubular for feeding to Methil by sea.
“At the moment, our company is employing 700 people between alternative energy and oil&gas,” said Robertson, referring to current activity at the company’s core yard at Burntisland, plus gearing up at Methil, where the company has taken on some 33 acres of the former offshore platform fabrication yard, now reinvented by Scottish Enterprise as Fife Energy Park. The interim target at Arnish is 80.
“When we started in 2001, we employed 11 people.”
Burntisland is living proof that large-scale engineering manufacturing is not dead in Britain. The tester was two 75m high jackets for the Beatrice demonstrator in the Cromarty Firth.
Today, the company has 36 jackets to build – 30 for the Ormonde project in the Irish Sea and six for the Alpha Ventus demonstrator off the German coast. There has not been a formal announcement about the latter contract, but the company has been quietly getting on with the job for some weeks.
The Alpha Ventus jackets are some 60m high and will stand in some 25m of water. The Ormonde structures are very similar and the depth range is 17-21m.
And they are just the start, as far as Robertson is concerned.
“The jacket substructure we have developed seems to be attracting interest for future prospects, in particular Round 3 (which includes the Crown Estates offers on Scottish projects).
And yet he fears that Government (UK/Scotland) does not understand the scale of the opportunity, nor the immense value of restoring large-scale engineering manufacturing.
Robertson has also launched an apprentice scheme to provide a pipeline of young talent to build the jackets.
“Recognising that the average age is increasing, we have started an apprenticeship scheme and, to date, we have 37 apprentices, plus we are taking on another 24 this year.”
But he said there would be no Government assistance for this programme, even though it was warranted in his view.
“We get no assistance regarding apprentices because, at the moment, all the funding goes to the colleges and not the businesses. I have a problem with that because it is the businesses that create the opportunities for the apprentices.
“Ideally, that’s something that ought to be addressed.
“Don’t get me wrong, the colleges are offering a good service. However, based on the scope and scale of what’s happening in alternative energy, I think Government should be training the pupils for the first year at no cost to the companies because there’s almost 100% guarantee of employment due to the skills demand.”