Eastern promise

The East of England is pulling out all the stops to entice offshore wind, gas, oil and nuclear operators. James Gray explains

The East of England has more than 45 years’ experience in supporting offshore operations in the southern North Sea and is home to around 6,200 businesses working across all sectors of the energy industry. These generate a total annual turnover of £12.9 billion and employ approximately 103,400 people.

With billions of pounds of capital expenditure planned for offshore wind, nuclear, gas storage and platform decommissioning over the next 20 years, regional business leaders are taking an innovative approach and have created a new marketing brand: the East of England Energy Zone. Under this banner, the region aims to demonstrate what it can offer energy industries and highlight the advantages of locating there. Over the next eight years, the new zone is expected to stimulate inward investment of £30 billion in the energy sector, providing exceptional growth opportunities for businesses and creating jobs.

Geographically, the East of England is ideally situated to support the offshore wind, oil and gas sectors. Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth are the closest deep-water ports to the East Anglia Array – planned a 7,200MW, 1,200 turbine development 44km from the coast. Both ports have almost 50 years’ experience as the principal harbours supporting the operations and maintenance of the offshore energy sector in the southern North Sea, while Lowestoft is also the centre of SSE’s control base for the Greater Gabbard ­windfarm.

A significant concentration of new investment is expected to be within a 70km radius of each place. Both ports have recently been granted Enterprise Zone status, meaning they qualify for a simplified planning regime and up to £275,000 of business rate relief is available for commercial premises established within the quayside infrastructure.

The East of England is also home to a number of other port facilities, including Wells and King’s Lynn in Norfolk, Ipswich in Suffolk and Harwich in Essex, all offering easy access to the Hornsea, Dogger Bank and many Round 2 developments. Moreover, it has strong supply chain links and a unique industry-driven skills programme, Skills for Energy (see box). Some of the most innovative companies in all-energy, such as ­Seajacks and Gardline, are already there.

The new East of England Energy Zone has been created through partnership believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, where the public sector is working across local boundaries and with the private sector through the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR).

James Gray is inward investment director for the East of England Energy Zone

Skills for Energy

Skills for Energy (SfE) is an industry-driven skills programme within the East of England Energy Zone, hosted by EEEGR. Its intention is to improve the provision of skills to better meet the needs of the region’s energy supply chain.

SfE is working with the University of East Anglia to develop an energy engineering programme (including BEng, MEngs and MSc) with sponsorship, course content, lecturers and site visits all provided by industry. It is also rolling out a “pre-apprenticeship” programme, the Energy Skills Foundation Programme, to training providers throughout the UK.

SfE is finalising proposals for an £11 million Energy Production Innovation Skills Centre to be sited in Great Yarmouth or Lowestoft. The centre will promote the significant opportunities in the industry, provide a focal point for skills development, enhance the capability and capacity of existing training provision, and raise aspirations for local people.

SfE has also developed a transition training programme for military (and ex-military) personnel. Such individuals have transferable skills relevant to energy, tend to be reliable and have the right work ethic.

The programme, achieved through collaborative partnerships, is unique. The government is funding work to explore how SfE could be rolled out to other energy based regions around the UK.

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 3 August 2012.

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