SAIPEM has awarded the £21 million contract for the fabrication and load-out of eight wind turbine generator jacket foundations to Harland & Wolff.
The jacket foundations will service the £2 billion Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm, which is currently under construction in the outer Firth of Forth. The contract is scheduled to commence from July 1, with the firm anticipating it to create around 290 direct and indirect jobs.
The works for fabrication, consolidation and load-out of the eight jacket foundations will principally be conducted at Harland & Wolff’s newly acquired Methil facilities. However, the firm said that, should there be an opportunity to further optimise the works programme and make the contract more cost-effective, Harland & Wolff and Saipem will work jointly to spread additional workstreams within the contract across its three other sites in Belfast, Arnish and Appledore.
John Wood, CEO of InfraStrata, commented, “We are delighted to have entered into this contract with Saipem and I believe that this contract paves the way for the execution and delivery of future fabrication contracts, a significant number of which are currently in advanced negotiations.
“The geographical proximity of our Methil facility to the North Sea makes it an ideal site for fabrication and load-out to wind farm projects such as this. More importantly, it validates our strategic vision of expanding the Group’s fabrication footprint into regions that are strategically located within proximity to major wind farm projects. This will enable us to spread workstreams across our facilities to drive down costs, deliver against tight schedules and, crucially, align ourselves to the government’s goal of providing wind generated power to all homes in the UK by 2030.
“I am confident that this is only the beginning of a stream of projects in our pipeline that we expect to come to fruition. We are hugely excited about the massive potential that this first contract has unlocked, and we look forward to working with Saipem to successfully deliver under it.”
