A Great Yarmouth company has secured a contract to build 56 turbine towers for the £1.5bn Galloper offshore wind farm – bringing 40 new jobs to the port.
3sun Group, a specialist provider of products and services to the global energy industry, won the contract with turbine manufacturer Siemens.
Forty of 3sun's engineers and technicians will be involved in building the turbine towers at Great Yarmouth's port, where a multi-million investment has created an assembly and installation base for wind farms such as Galloper, currently under construction 20 miles off the Suffolk coast.
Turbine components will arrive at the quayside, where they will be assembled – known as pre-assembly – before they are loaded on to vessels by the 120m crane on the town's sky-line and transported offshore for installation.
The contract means 40 new jobs for 3sun Group on top of the 100 new technicians it is currently recruiting, swelling its workforce to almost 400 working on contracts worldwide.
3sun Group chief executive Graham Hacon said the contract win will bring 'real investment, jobs creation and local content from offshore wind to the Great Yarmouth community'.
'We work on offshore wind farms all over the world but it is especially important to win contracts on wind farms off our coast to provide employment for our local community in this new growing industry,' he said. 'This was a vision when offshore wind began off the East of England, bringing hope for skills and employment as more traditional industries waned.
'With this contract, people can see that the multi-billion offshore wind industry isn't just happening miles out at sea –the positive effects are being felt here in Great Yarmouth.'
Great Yarmouth MP Brandon Lewis added: 'This is what the community of Great Yarmouth has been hoping for from the exciting new industry developing off its shores – jobs for local people, bringing significant contributions to the local economy and a real part for local people to play in the new industry.
'The contract is a well-deserved reward for the dedication and investment 3sun Group has made to shape a skilled workforce ready to meet the demands for local content in offshore wind farms.'
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