A new offshore wind joint venture, will be based in Grimsby and will result in new jobs in engineering, operations and customer services. Cosalt Wind Energy has been created following a joint venture deal that was announced this week.
Grimsby-headquartered Cosalt, the specialist provider of critical safety equipment for the marine, industrial and offshore markets, has signed a new joint venture agreement with Danish company APRO, an engineering services business with many years experience in the wind energy market.
Already a strong and respected brand in the offshore oil and gas and commercial marine markets, Cosalt recently set up a dedicated Renewable Energy division to supply inspection and testing services plus marine safety, lifting equipment, tooling and height safety products to the renewables sector, particularly offshore wind farms.
This specialist product offering combines well with APRO's engineering expertise and long-standing customer relationships in the wind energy market. Established in 1998, APRO has an excellent reputation for installing and servicing onshore and offshore wind turbines. It has contracts with many of the world's major wind turbine manufacturers, including Vestas and Siemens.
Cosalt, with its branches located in close proximity to the UK and mainland Europe's key wind turbine development sites, is ideally placed to service the offshore wind sector as more investment comes on-stream. The company has 11 UK operational bases many of which, such as Grimsby, Newcastle, Lowestoft, Edinburgh, Southampton and Birkenhead, offer immediate access to the wind farms being built off the UK coastline. In the Humber area alone the forecast is for an additional 5,000 wind turbines to be in operation by 2020.
The joint venture with APRO will be known as Cosalt Wind Energy and will sit under Cosalt's Renewables division. Based in Cosalt's new Head Office in Grimsby, the venture will be headed up by Winston Phillips, Managing Director of Cosalt's Renewables business.
Mr Phillips said:
"Cosalt Wind Energy combines Cosalt's specialist offering, our extensive offshore oil and gas experience and expansive European branch network with APRO's acknowledged servicing expertise and strong customer relationships with the major wind turbine manufacturers. Over the next few months we will be strengthening our dedicated operations and customer service team in Grimsby as well as looking to recruit additional service engineers. APRO has a great deal of experience in this area and their recruitment and training skills will prove invaluable. We are also setting up an apprenticeship scheme so that we can develop a large and highly skilled workforce that will grow with us as we take on more business."
This latest announcement further confirms Greater Grimsby’s status as the UK capital of the offshore wind industry.
Link: www.cosalt.com