Vattenfall calls on Norfolk businesses to register interest in offshore wind farm projects

Vattenfall, the developer behind the Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas offshore windfarm developments, is encouraging local businesses to provide more information about what they can do, especially installing onshore electrical infrastructure. With Norfolk Vanguard breaking ground potentially as early as 2020, Vattenfall has called on local businesses to move first and take advantage of the big opportunities that will follow if the project is consented at the end of 2019.

Rob Lilly, Vattenfall’s Procurement Manager, for Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas, said: “If we get permission to build our wind farms we are looking at massive investment into Norfolk. In our experience, businesses that move first have the advantage and our request for information is designed to give local firms the edge when construction contracts start being let, potentially as early as 2020. We have spoken to many companies in Norfolk already and we know the potential is there to sign up a significant number of businesses.”

Ruari Lean, Vattenfall’s Project Manager for the Norfolk Vanguard development, added: “Throughout our consultation with local people and organisations we have heard loud and clear there is an appetite to work with us and put Norfolk on the global offshore wind map. Thanks to the support of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, Norfolk County Council, EEEGR and the New Anglia LEP, we have been able to engage with hundreds of companies, some of which have already started to work for us.

On behalf of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce – a leading voice of business in Norfolk, Nova Fairbank, said: “With construction due to start in the early 20s, we would hope to see hundreds of jobs created and many long-term opportunities in the wind energy sector for appropriately skilled young people. Building on our existing capabilities, we can embed an exciting global industry firmly in Norfolk.”

Companies interested in winning business with Norfolk Vanguard and Norfolk Boreas should sign up via the project website.

When up and running in the mid-2020s, Norfolk Vanguard’s and Norfolk Boreas’s 3.6GW of combined generating capacity will produce enough fossil-free power every year to meet the equivalent annual electricity demand today of 2.6 million UK households, almost 10% of UK household demand.