Britain will invest 95 million pounds ($132 million) in the
construction of two new facilities to service a big expansion in offshore wind
farms, creating around 6,000 jobs in the north of England, the government said
on Wednesday.
Able Marine Energy Park, in the Humber region, will receive
up to 75 million pounds, and Teesworks Offshore Manufacturing Centre on
Teesside, will get up to 20 million pounds.
The two sites will house manufacturers supporting the
development of up to 9 GW of offshore wind energy projects each year, which
will be enough electricity to power around 8 million homes, the government
said.
GE Renewable Energy has confirmed it will build a new
offshore wind blade manufacturing factory on Teesside. The area was formerly
home to much heavy industry, including the Redcar steelworks which went into
liquidation in 2015.
It will start production in 2023 and supply blades to the
Dogger Bank wind farm, off the coast of northeast England.
The government said the new infrastructure will help meet
its target to quadruple offshore wind capacity 40 GW by 2030. ($1 = 0.7198
pounds) (Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Toby Chopra)