Business and Energy Secretary to see first blade from Siemens’ wind power factory in Hull

The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is set to visit Siemens’ new wind power factory in Hull to see the first turbine blade to be manufactured.

The Rt Hon Greg Clark MP will visit the factory, which is the centerpiece of a £310m investment, as the first 75m blade is unveiled to Siemens customers, guests and the media.

The blade is the first of hundreds to be manufactured in Hull every year for Siemens’ 7MW and next-generation 8MW turbines and will be among the first supplied to DONG Energy for the Race Bank wind farm off the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coast.

This unveiling comes less than two years after a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the start of construction on the site at Hull’s Alexandra Dock.

Since then, offshore wind market giant Siemens and partner Associated British Ports (ABP) have transformed the waterfront location into a world-scale hub for wind power manufacturing, logistics and assembly.

The development is one of Siemens’ largest-ever investments worldwide in manufacturing facilities. The factory has been delivered ahead of programme and within budget.

Guests will also see 90-metre turbine towers, which have been assembled at the dockside, ready for load out with other components early in January to the Dudgeon offshore wind farm off the Norfolk coast – the first project to be serviced by the new facilities in Hull. Dudgeon is joint venture owned by Statoil, Statkraft and Masdar.

Mr Clark said: “This is exactly the relationship we want to see between our large infrastructure projects in the UK and our supply chain companies as part of our industrial strategy.

“Hull has established itself as an important manufacturing and engineering centre for this innovative and exciting new industry. In the coming years the new offshore wind projects that this factory will supply could generate enough clean electricity to power over three million homes and businesses – all with wind turbine blades produced by the dedicated and highly skilled Siemens workforce right here in Hull.

“Since 2010, there has been over £52bn of investment in renewables in the UK – creating thousands of highly skilled jobs and opportunities here in the UK to support our low-carbon economy.”

As the first blade is revealed, Siemens announced it had employed almost 700 people in Hull so far, with 96% living within a 30-mile radius of the city, having received more than 23,000 job applications.

A further 100 permanent staff are employed at Alexandra Dock working for Siemens’ suppliers and recruitment up to a total of 1,000 people will continue into 2017 as the site becomes fully operational. Hundreds more jobs have been created during construction and in the supply chain.

Juergen Maier, Siemens UK chief executive, commented: “We are witnessing probably the best example of industrial strategy in action we have in the UK today – creating new, local, skilled jobs, sustainable growth and the latest renewable technology, benefiting the UK economy and our society.

“One of the greatest challenges we have is to increase productivity in the UK and generate growth while decarbonising our energy supply and reducing emissions to achieve a sustainable energy mix.

“Our new wind power blade factory in Hull is an important part of that journey and I hope it will be a catalyst for further significant investments by our suppliers, customers and the industry at large.

“Most of all this new factory signals a positive future for manufacturing in this country. This is a world-class facility – innovative, productive and competitive – that generates real value for the local community and the UK economy.”

The Siemens factory and associated facilities are Hull’s largest-ever inward investment and at the forefront of a wave of development as Hull prepares to be the UK City of Culture in 2017.

Development of the full Alexandra Dock site, including completion of a new harbour for pre-assembly and load out of wind turbine components, will continue into 2017.