SeAH selects Able Marine Energy Park for UK monopile manufacturing facility

Korean manufacturer SeAH has signed an exclusive memorandum of understanding with Able UK to use the Able Marine Energy Park development.

Able UK’s executive chairman Peter Stephenson said, “We have a clear and unambiguous policy from Whitehall through the Sector Deal and increasingly demanding targets for power generation and UK content.

“Combine this with the sector’s extraordinary efforts in terms of developing new products and significantly reducing costs and it is set to become a dominant factor in a post Covid-19 UK economy.

“To make the most of this brave new world and deliver 60% UK content we must act now to capitalise on this singular, but time-limited opportunity.

“Able Marine Energy Park can and will play a vital role in this process to, first and foremost, provide purpose-built heavy-duty deepwater quays and a large expanse of hinterland.

“SeAH is one of a number of manufacturers with whom we are at similar stages of negotiation. They have embraced the concept of establishing a new world-scale industrial cluster for offshore wind on the Humber.

“Subject to our receiving the necessary support, the first quays will be available towards the end of 2022, to coincide with the needs of both manufacturers and the developers of offshore windfarms”

SeAH chief executive Hyungkun Nam said, “The UK has the strongest market and we intend to play an important role in the ongoing development of the offshore wind sector.

“We recognise the considerable opportunity to be the first significant UK-based monopile supplier. Able is the sole partner with whom we wish to progress matters. That is why we have signed an exclusive MoU with them as we seek to bring to reality what would be a significant investment with an initial annual capacity of 162,000 tonnes and rising up to 320,000 tonnes and the prospect of providing around 400 new jobs.”

Able Marine Energy Park is part of the 1,695-acre Able Humber Port and provides a fully consented, £475M (US$611M) development which will provide 1,279 m of heavy-duty, deepwater quays supported by 198 acres of adjacent installation yards and 353 acres of manufacturing and storage land. Able says its bespoke design will fully accommodate the manufacture, assembly, storage and installation of all offshore wind components

Able Group says it has an asset base of in excess of £500M. The group provided the facility and onshore logistics for Ørsted’s Hornsea One offshore windfarm foundation package in 2018/19. From mid-September the same facility will be the installation base for RWE’s Triton Knoll windfarm which will see the installation of 90 MHI Vestas Offshore Wind 9-MW turbines. The company said other contracts “are set to follow from 2021.”

The vast majority of the UK’s 2,292 installed offshore wind turbines have a monopile foundation, barely a handful of which were produced in the UK.