The company behind the UK’s first offshore wind monopile manufacturing facility has revealed the huge Humber investment will total more than a quarter of a billion pounds.
SeAH Wind Ltd will build the plant at Able Marine Energy Park, creating up to 750 jobs by 2030.
The final investment decision came from the South Korean capital as UK government support was revealed for it by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng.
It was heralded as a £117 million outlay, but SeAH has confirmed the actual figure is more than double, with £260 million to be committed over the next three years.
Joosung Lee, chief operating officer of SeAH Steel Holdings Corporation, of which SeAH Wind is a UK-based subsidiary, said: “As the only monopile supplier in the UK offshore wind supply chain, we are already expecting promising results from commercial negotiations with our UK customers as well as European customers.
“We are also planning to aggressively target the US and Asian offshore wind substructure market with the successful UK business model.”
Capacity has already been increased while on the drawing board, up 50 per cent from an envisaged 160,000 tonnes to 240,000 tonnes.
Mr Joosung said it was “in order to respond to the sharp increase in global demand of monopiles followed by the rapid growth of the offshore wind market”.
A 40GW target for installation has been set for 2030 by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as part of the green industrial revolution to push the country's Covid recovery and 'build back better'.
SeAH anticipates starting manufacturing operations in 2023, with the site at full capacity and peak employment by the end of the decade.
It is expected to be the world’s largest monopile manufacturing facility.
Of the chosen North Killingholme location, the company said that with “waters wider and deeper than existing ports, the area is evaluated as an optimal location for manufacturing and transporting extra-large monopiles”.
The initial costing was based on capital equipment expenses against which support from Westmister is weighted, with BEIS using the Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Support Scheme
“Based on the active support and trust from the UK government, it is meaningful for SeAH that investment toward the monopile factory is in full swing,” Mr Joosung added.
