The factory, which will be based in Redcar, Teeside, will produce monopiles for the foundations of offshore wind turbines. The company believes the facility will create around 220 jobs.
Corus said the aim was to establish an early foothold in the UK’s offshore market. However, he added the development of the plant was dependent on securing enough orders. It will be redeveloping empty buildings on its 3000-acre Teeside site to house the facility.
Chris Elliot, Corus director of product marketing, said: "The UK Government has approved ambitious plans to build thousands of wind turbines at sea over the next 10 years. They are intended to generate 35GW of electricity – around 15% of the UK’s energy requirements. Similar developments are taking place in other European countries.
"In the UK alone, we estimate that about 6 million tonnes of steel will be needed over the next 10 years to make the foundations and tower structures for offshore wind turbines. We are positioning ourselves to take full benefit of these opportunities."
Northern England has been the beneficiary of the UK's offshore ambitions in terms of manufacturing facilities and job creation. This includes:
- July 7 - Developer Able UK announces plans to build an offshore centre, which will fulfill the same purpose as Germany's Bremerhaven.
- March 25 - GE plans to manufacture its 4MW offshore turbine in the UK, which it believes could result in up to 2000 jobs by 2020.
- February 26 - Japenese manufacturer Mitsubishi is to invest £100 million building an offshore wind turbine research facility in north-east England, it announced yesterday.
- February 5 - Clipper “uåX˜äŠÊ˜·³Ç is building a factory in England's north-east to develop and build blades for the ‘Britannia Project', a 10 MW offshore wind turbine prototype.
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