Clegg visited the 270MW offshore site, developed by Siemens, Centrica and Dong, to hail the landmark in wind power for the UK and to launch the government’s 'Offshore Wind Industrial Strategy'.
Focusing chiefly on the UK wind industry supply chain, the strategy includes measures to help companies bring new products to market, and to coordinate innovation between industry, government and academia.
Project developers will be encouraged to share information on their procurement timescales, and key decision points, with suppliers.
The strategy also tells developers of major offshore sites that they must demonstrate they have a 'sustainable' supply chain before they can apply to the Contract for Difference scheme.
The government estimates that the offshore wind industry could be worth £7bn to the UK economy, and provide 30,000 jobs, by 2020, assuming 16GW is installed by the end of March 2020 with 50 per cent UK capital expenditure and 85 per cent UK operational expenditure.
The Lincs project is situated 8km off the east coast of England, and is made up of 75 Siemens 3.6MW turbines. It takes the UK's wind capacity to 10GW.
.png)
.png)
