Partner Article

Renewable recruitment drive for NE

The North East’s renewable energy industry is set for a recruitment drive with the launch of a new development platform.

The New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec), has announced plans to expand its offshore renewables team and create fifteen new professional positions at its headquarters in Blyth, Northumberland.

The new vacancies include opportunities for program managers, engineers, commercial managers and an oceanographer.

The immediate focus for a number of the new recruits will be to work on the development of a new £10m marine renewables drive train test rig called Project Nautilus. The new facility will be built on the existing campus in Blyth and will provide a simulated testing environment for new prototypes to develop new wave and tidal devices onshore, before they are ready to be deployed in the open sea.

Stephen Wilson, Director of Wind and Marine, said: “There are no comparable testing facilities anywhere in the world. The UK is already a focus for the development and testing of marine energy devices and this open access facility will allow developers to test and improve the reliability of their devices throughout the development process, from medium scale prototypes through to full-scale commercial devices; and at significantly lower cost and risk in comparison to sea testing.”

Ian Williams, Director of Business and Industry at One North East, said: “We are delighted with the progress being made at the New and Renewable Energy Centre and extremely proud of its work to date.

“As a result the region is well-placed to benefit from the national and international opportunities that are arising in the renewables sector, which is central to One North East’s long-term strategy for major growth and job creation in low carbon industries.”

Full job descriptions for the new roles will be available on the Narec website next week.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .