Lowestoft-based renewable energy vessel specialist Turner Iceni has won a contract worth more than £4m to provide support for the construction of the East Anglia One offshore windfarm.

Turner Iceni will provide crew transfer vessels (CTVs) for the construction and commissioning phases of the £2.5bn windfarm, supporting ScottishPower Renewables and its contractors 365 days per year and helping to support 50 jobs.

The contract includes the transfer of light plant, tools and spares as well as personnel to and from the offshore wind turbines, the offshore substation and “met mast” (meteorological measuring tower) locations.

Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables’ project director for East Anglia One, said: “We are now only a few weeks away from the first components of the windfarm being installed offshore on the East Anglia One project, after several months of good progress being made on the onshore cable and substation work.

“Turner Iceni will have an important role to play in making sure that our offshore work programme is successfully delivered, and the fact that they have a strong team based in Lowestoft was an added bonus for us. With this contract in place, and work due to start soon on our new Operations and Maintenance facility, it is fantastic to see activity levels increasing in Lowestoft to support the windfarm.”

Richard Thurlow of Turner Iceni said: “We are delighted to have been awarded the contract to supply CTVs for the construction and commissioning phase for the East Anglia One project. Turner Iceni have been committed to the local area ever since we started operating in 2009.

“Both vessels ScottishPower Renewables has chartered were built in Great Yarmouth, will be crewed by local people and operated from our Lowestoft base close to the new East Anglia One Operations and Maintenance facility. From the outset ScottishPower Renewables set a very high UK content target for the project, we are pleased to be able to help towards achieving this goal.”

The East Anglia One windfarm is being constructed 30 miles off the Suffolk coast. Once operational in 2020 the 102 Siemens 7MW turbines will provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of almost 600,000 homes, which is the majority of households in Suffolk and Norfolk.