• • £Multi-million boost to local economy
  • Offshore wind farm construction base at ABP Lowestoft
  • Will bring around 40 jobs to the area

Galloper Wind Farm Limited (GWFL) has today, in partnership with Associated British Ports (ABP) and OGN Group, announced that the Port of Lowestoft has been selected as the construction coordination base for the project. Around 40 personnel will work from the OGN Group facility over the two year construction period. The deal signifies a multi-million investment into the local economy both in terms of lease and port payments and the preparation of the facility ahead of it becoming the project’s offshore construction coordination base.

The announcement coincides with Offshore Wind Week and was confirmed today by Waveney Member of Parliament, Peter Aldous, at an event hosted at OrbisEnergy in Lowestoft, to celebrate Offshore Wind Week. Today he said:“This is very welcome news and confirms Lowestoft’s position as a centre for the offshore wind industry. The project will bring new jobs to the area, further opportunities for existing businesses and can act as a catalyst for further growth in the sector.”

Toby Edmonds, Project Director for GWFL, said: “The new base, with its excellent quay, office and laydown facilities will be a thriving hub of activity during the Galloper wind farm construction period. Our team, which will include both existing and locally sourced personnel, will be located in the area until at least March 2018 and with that, we expect lots of positive spin-off benefits for local businesses.”

ABP Director Andrew Harston said: “ABP’s Port of Lowestoft already supports around 1,200 jobs and contributes around £80 million to the economy. This positive development by RWE Innogy which utilises the extensive OGN facility to provide a ‘ready to go’ support base for Galloper underpins the port’s role as a key driver of both the local and regional economy, with the potential to make a significant contribution to the prosperity of the town and it’s hinterland.”

Dave Edwards, CEO of OGN Group said: “This is great news for us, the port and for the local area. We are delighted to be supporting GWFL during the construction of their prestigious windfarm off our coast. From OGN’s base in Commercial road, we look forward to working with the Galloper team in achieving a successful project.”

The GWFL team will mobilise on site in March 2016 and before moving into the construction phase in June 2016. The site, which was formally an oil operations base, is located within the ABP facility in Lowestoft. Further GWFL project announcements, including the final decision on the Operations & Maintenance base are expected to be made in 2016.

Construction of the wind farm, which will be capable of generating up to 336MW, enough energy for up to 336,000 homes¹, is set to create around 700 jobs during construction and around 90 jobs once operational.

Footnotes

¹ Energy predicted to be generated by the proposal is derived using wind speeds monitored in the local area and correlating to suitable reanalysis weather data  providing longer term data. The calculations are based on an installed capacity of  up to 336MW.  The energy capture predicted and hence derived homes equivalent or emissions savings figures may change as further data are gathered. Equivalent homes supplied is based on an annual electricity consumption per home of 4500 kWh. This figure is supported by recent domestic electricity consumption data available from The Digest of UK Energy Statistics and household figures from the UK Statistics Authority.