Wind News

Thursday 18 March 2010

(l to r) Steve Clarke (Mainstream Renewable Power), Andrew Mill (chief executive, Narec), David Kidney MP, Helen Goodman MP, Alan Rutherford (chairman, Narec), Paul Cook (assistant principal, Northumberland College), Mark Pearson (business development man

Energy minister David Kidney has today (March 18) opened the UK's first training tower for offshore wind at the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) in Blyth, as well as announcing a major extension of the Carbon Trust's Offshore Wind Accelerator programme.

The 27 metre high training facility at Narec is said to be the UK's first wind turbine training tower and is the result of a collaborative training partnership (backed by regional development agency One North East) between Northumberland College, renewable energy plant developer, Mainstream Renewable Power, and Narec.

It is an open access facility, designed to allow education and training providers to deliver academic and industrial training programmes for technicians working in the wind industry and at height, both onshore and offshore.

Commenting on the tower, Mr Kidney said: "I'm really impressed with this brilliant new training facility. It will help people from the North East and across the UK to get the skills they need to help us generate more clean, green and secure wind energy."

Andrew Mill, chief executive of Narec, added: "We are extremely proud today to be able to officially open the UK's first Wind Turbine Training Tower at Narec and thank all partners involved in the project for their support in making the project a success.

"The industry is predicting that technicians in their tens of thousands will be needed to install, operate and maintain new wind generating capacity offshore and the tower marks the first stage of the creation of a national training centre for the industry in North East England."

Helen Goodman MP, parliamentary under-secretary of state at the department for work and pensions, was also at the launch and said: "We're committed to a green future for the UK and that's why 10,000 of our Future Jobs Fund jobs are in environmental sectors, renewable energy technologies and emerging low-carbon sectors. Young people are now getting back to work in these green jobs across every region in Britain."

Programme

Mr Kidney, who was today in the North East to meet representatives from business and education to discuss skills and green jobs, also announced a funding boost of £4.8 million for the Offshore Wind Accelerator programme.

The £30 million programme is a research and development collaboration between the Carbon Trust and leading offshore wind developers which focuses on developing innovative technologies that have real potential to cut the cost of future wind farm developments. It was launched in October 2008 (see this NewEnergyFocus.com story).

Announcing the funding, Mr Kidney said: "Fighting climate change and ensuring our energy security is a challenge, but it's also a massive opportunity - an opportunity for skills, jobs and investment. Research and development, and giving people the skills to build offshore wind farms will be vital to keeping the UK ahead of the world.

"As we build larger wind farms, in deeper waters, further from shore, we must work with industry to find and develop vital new technologies. The funding I'm announcing today will help companies drive down costs and share resources, which will benefit the entire industry here in the UK."

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust, added: "Today's announcement shows the commitment to the Carbon Trust's Offshore Wind Accelerator and provides confidence in its ability to drive cost out of offshore wind deployment.

"We have seen many promising concepts and innovative solutions to the technology challenges that the offshore wind industry faces as it moves further offshore and this additional funding will help to scale up our activity and enable us to continue to drive costs out of this key technology."