Sheffield Forgemasters joins wind energy programme

The company has secured expert consultancy support via the OWGP WEST programme, providing market assessments, feedback, recommendations of next steps and action plans for further support to help accelerate growth within the offshore wind sector supply chain.

It has also successfully bid for £40 000 of funding via the OWGP Cross-Sector Support Competition, which aims to increase the breadth of the UK offshore wind supply chain by attracting cross-sector engagement and enabling UK companies to join the sector.

Dominic Ashmore, Business Development Manager at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “It is clear to us that Sheffield Forgemasters has a significant level of capabilities and skills from its many years of work in offshore oil and gas and power generation sectors to become a key contributor to the development of offshore wind power.

“These are early days for this sector and the OWGP WEST programme will help us to identify the current state of the market, to analyse projects and possibilities and to look at regional offshore wind generation targets.

“We need to fully examine the timescales around manufacture for these markets and to understand the challenges of transitioning into this type of manufacture, which is the basis of the OWGPs' programmes.”

Building on the knowledge gleaned from the OWGP WEST project, Sheffield Forgemasters will work to develop its position in the offshore wind supply chain, capitalising on its expertise in cast and forged engineering solutions for the offshore oil and gas industry.

Dominic added: “There are certain elements of manufacture for the offshore wind market which look readily transferrable from the oil and gas work that we have done, but there are still numerous transitions that may need to be made, in the shift from large scale bespoke products to repeat manufacturing cycles for example.

“Establishing Sheffield Forgemasters' in the offshore wind market supply chain would be a huge step towards meeting the UK's 'Net Zero' targets. It would also be a boost to the UK steel industry, potentially creating upwards of 80 jobs directly with the company and more than 100 indirectly in the local community and supply chain.”

The company, which is one of 12 UK companies to tap into the £1.3 million OWGP fund, manufactures for numerous sectors including offshore oil and gas, power generation, materials processing, civil nuclear and defence industries and is working to support the UK Government's net-zero carbon agenda.

Funded by the Offshore Wind Industry Council and delivered by ORE Catapult, OWGP is a long-term business transformation programme that will promote closer collaboration across the supply chain, implement structured productivity improvement programmes and facilitate shared growth opportunities between developers and the supply chain.

Over the next ten years its delivery will focus on direct support to supply chain companies through a combination of bespoke business support and grant funding.

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