Government pours £270m into Humber offshore wind industry
The government will put £266m into boosting its wind power manufacturing capacity in the Humber region, it was announced this morning.
Turbine maker Siemens Gamesa will receive £186m of funding, which will allow it to hire a further 1,080 staff.
And GRI Renewable Industries will be given £78m to go towards building a new offshore wind turbine tower factory, creating up to 260 direct jobs.
The new investment takes the amount of funding pledged to the industry by the government this year to over £500m.
It comes as the government aims to quadrupling the UK’s offshore wind capacity to produce 40GW of energy from offshore wind by 2030 – enough to power every home in the country.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “The Humber region embodies the UK’s green industrial revolution, with new investment into developing the next generation of wind turbines set to create new jobs, export opportunities and clean power across the country.
“With less than a hundred days to go until the climate summit COP26, we need to see more countries embracing new technologies, building green industries and phasing out coal power for a sustainable future.”
The funding, which comes from a mixture of government and private sector money, is part of the Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Support scheme, which was announced last year.
The scheme is designed to encourage manufacturing investment in the offshore wind supply chain by providing grant funding for investments for firms looking to make strategically important offshore wind components, from turbine blades to subsea cables.