Crown Estate Supply Chain Events

The Crown Estate today announced the dates of a series of twelve UK supply chain events for the offshore wind industry. This developing industry is creating some of the largest infrastructure projects in the world with a potential market investment of over £100 billion. With this comes the prospect of tens of thousands of jobs and a significant boost to the UK economy.

These events will be delivered regionally through a working partnership of The Crown Estate, the UK Government and the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The UK dates are:

• Newcastle
  17 February 2010 (One North East)

Contact: Clare McDermott at One North East
email: clare.mcdermott@onenortheast.co.uk, tel: 0191 229 6500

• Gatwick
  23 February 2010 (South East England Development Agency and EnviroBusiness)

• Loughborough
  25 February 2010 (Advantage West Midlands and East Midlands Development Agency)

Contact: Staffordshire University
email: iesr@staffs.ac.uk, tel: 01782 294 110

• Doncaster
  26 February 2010 (Yorkshire Forward)
  For registration please visit:Yorkshire Forward website

• Lowestoft
  4 March 2010 (East of England Development Agency)

Contact: Toni Diggens at East of England Development Agency
email: events@eeda.org.uk, tel: 01223 200 887

• Bristol
  9 March 2010 (South West RDA and Regen South West)
  For registration and tickets please visit: Regen SW website

• Liverpool
  11 March 2010 (North West Development Agency and Envirolink Northwest)

Contact: Sarah Jolly at Envirolink Northwest
email: s.jolly@envirolinknorthwest.co.uk, tel: 01925 856 046

• Belfast
  16 March 2010 (Invest NI)

Contact: Sam Knox at Invest NI
email: sustainabledev@investni.com, tel: 02890 698 868

These events will act as a ‘marketplace’ to enable all those involved in developing offshore wind sites to do business. A single region cannot deliver the requirements to support the scale of development alone; these events will create the opportunity for local and regional companies to do business right across the UK.

The supply chain is in the broadest sense all the elements that will contribute to offshore wind energy deployment including: components; skilled workforce; infrastructure; also the regulatory environment. It is essential for supporting the deployment of offshore wind to deliver ambitious UK renewable energy targets. This is a huge opportunity for the regions and businesses of the UK to play a role in providing new jobs, inward investment and to ensure that we remain the world leader in offshore wind deployment. The anticipated scope of growth is akin to the oil and gas service industry.

The potential for growth in the job market is significant; research by The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) estimates that the UK wind industry jobs will be in the region of 57,000 by 2020, a significant growth from 5,000 in 2008. In addition, The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) estimates that the number of jobs in the EU wind industry will more than double from 154,000 to 325,000 by 2020, which could lead to significant opportunities for the UK to export expertise internationally.