Siemens Energy/Iemants Moray West deal to create 250 jobs at Smulders’ North Tyneside yard

Hundreds of jobs will be created after an engineering consortium secured a major Scottish offshore wind farm deal.

The Siemens Energy/Iemants partnership will deliver two substation platforms for the 85-turbine Moray West development.

Bosses say the deal will help create 250 jobs at Smulders’ Wallsend base over the next 18 months, with Iemants operating as a subsidiary of the North Tyneside operator.

And North East Times can reveal the deal, announced today (Thursday, December 2) at the Offshore Wind North East conference, held at Sunderland’s Beacon of Light, will benefit other regional firms too.

An element of the project will be delivered by Wynyard-based Barrier Architectural Services, with Darlington’s MTE – known for making fire and blast walls for offshore structures – working as a sub-contractor.

Work on the Moray West contract is due to begin in the second quarter of 2022.

Tom Coosemans, general manager of Smulders Projects UK, said the deal marks another significant success for the operator, which previously made jacket foundations for the neighbouring Moray East energy project.

He said: “Local or UK-content sits high on the agenda and together with our strategic partners, we strive to increase local content going forward in this very competitive international market.

“The Moray West project allows us to kickstart further projects at the Smulders’ yard in the North East, building the path for supplementary green jobs and securing additional local content projects in the near future.”

Phil Manley, project director for Siemens Energy UK and Ireland, said: “This project will be an important step forward in reaching the Government target of increasing offshore wind power to 40GW in the next decade.

“Ensuring the UK supply chain can benefit from these important projects is something we are incredibly proud of, and we’re delighted to bring further content back to the UK with our partners.”

Adam Morrison, project director for Moray West, added: “Siemens Energy brings a strong track record, and we are particularly delighted to secure topside work in the UK again.

“We look forward to working with the joint venture to maximise further local UK content.”