A Fife firm has been given a huge boost after winning a multi-million-pound contract to build structures serving one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms.
Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) has signed a £12 million deal with RWE npower renewables to design and manufacture two substation foundation structures for the Gwynt y Mor wind farm off north Wales securing work for almost 400 staff over the next couple of years.
The key contract award will ultimately safeguard the posts of 350 employees at BiFab’s site at the Fife Energy Park in Methil, while it will do likewise for a further 40 employees at the company’s Arnish site in the north of Scotland.
But while the lucrative contract is unlikely to create jobs, the formal announcement will still be reassuring for local staff who may have feared for their futures.
BiFab managing director John Robertson said work will start immediately on the contract, which is due for completion in March 2012, and expressed delight in securing the major deal.
“It is our first project with RWE and we hope it will be the start of a long-term relationship with the company,” he said.
“The jacket structures that support the offshore substations will be fabricated at the BiFab Methil facility, securing employment for 350 staff, while the foundation piles that secure the jackets to the seabed will be manufactured by the BiFab Arnish facility at Stornoway.
“This will allow for the development of the facility of a pile manufacturing plant and will safeguard an additional 40 jobs.”Power for 500,000 homesThe Gwynt y Mor development, which will be around eight miles offshore, is being built by RWE npower renewables with Munich utility company Stadtwerke Munchen and Siemens.
Around 160 turbines will be created and are expected to be capable of generating enough power for 500,000 homes.
BiFab, which will work alongside Irish shipyard Harland and Wolff in delivering the contract, has been asked to carry out detailed design and engineering work on the substation platform structures and piles, which weigh around 800 tonnes.
It is expected to subcontract the design work to Offshore Design Engineering (ODE) London.
BiFab will also be asked to source tubular structural steel, all other associated equipment and material, while also helping to secure the massive structures on to RWE-supplied North Sea barges.
In selecting the Fife firm, RWE project director Toby Edmonds said BiFab’s diversification into the renewable energy sector and reputation for innovation in its field made it the number one choice.
“We are very pleased that once again the construction of Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm can continue to deliver investment into the UK through this contract with BiFab,” he said.
“RWE npower renewables is keen to support the UK’s manufacturing industry.”
He added, “The award of this contract will not only guarantee skilled fabrication jobs at BiFab but will also strengthen the UK’s position as a world leader in the renewable energy industry.”Salmond “delighted”Mr Edmonds said, “The company is an experienced offshore foundations manufacturer, and has demonstrated reliability and innovation within its tender for this scope of work.
“The BiFab team has also shown to us that their values align with our own and that they understand how to reduce the cost associated with the design and manufacture of jacket substructures for the offshore wind industry without compromising either health and safety or quality.”
First Minister Alex Salmond said the contract award was “great news” for BiFab’s workforce in Fife and on Lewis.
He said, “I’m delighted by RWE npower renewables’ announcement and their recognition and support for the strength and quality of Scotland’s renewables supply chain.
“Together with our huge natural renewables resource, Scotland has decades of offshore energy engineering expertise that can play a key role in meeting our renewable energy and carbon reduction targets.”
The announcement comes less than three months after BiFab was awarded the largest single contract to construct the country’s most advanced tidal-powered turbine in the north of Scotland.
Norwegian developer Hammerfest Strom confirmed in August that the £2 million deal to build the turbine at the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney would create jobs at Arnish and safeguard jobs in Fife.
Picture used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user phault.