North East firm secures five year deal boosting green energy jobs

The consultancy firm, which supports a growing client base in the UK and beyond, is particularly known for its work on major wind and solar energy projects.

SRC has spent most of the last five years working on the Sofia Offshore Wind Farm project, which is connected to the National Grid at Lackenby, near Redcar.

The project is currently 100 per cent owned by RWE. Graham Tyerman, SRC managing director and Jonathan Grigg, senior project manager for the RWE Sofia Offshore Wind Project, on the HVDC Offshore Converter Platform  (Image: Steel River Consultants)

The Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, with a £3 billion construction cost, is set to be one of the largest single offshore wind farms in the world as well as one of the farthest from shore.

At any one time, SRC has eight consultants working on the Sofia project and is also supporting RWE on future development and decommissioning projects.

SRC is considered unique within the industry because of its ability to offer high-quality staff within key HSE positions, creating a level of flexibility that cannot be achieved when relying solely on sub-contracted resources.

Graham Tyerman, SRC’s managing director, said: “We are delighted to once again be appointed to the RWE framework for HSE services and this is testament to the great team that currently work on the RWE business and provide a comprehensive, trustworthy service.

“As a hands-on and practical firm, which has been a contributing factor in our re-appointment, we are now able to look forward to working on some of the most groundbreaking renewable energy projects in the world, whilst at the same time, building on our success to grow SRC with the increase in business that this framework will generate.”

SRC has also just begun work on Norfolk Vanguard, part of RWE’s Norfolk Offshore Wind Portfolio.

Once operational, it is set to be among the world’s most significant generators of clean, sustainable electricity for millions of homes across the UK each year.

It includes three wind development projects – Norfolk Vanguard West, Norfolk Vanguard East and Norfolk Boreas – each designed to have a capacity of 1.4 gigawatts (GW).

Roy Dickson, lead HSE manager offshore wind construction at RWE Offshore Wind, said: “We have worked with Graham and the SRC team for the last four years and we are pleased they have won another five years on our framework to provide HSE consultancy services.

“They are reliable and provide safe, professional advice with a pragmatic approach to the issues and challenges that we face daily on projects such as these.

“Onshore construction for the Norfolk Projects has already commenced, which will implement many of the innovations and advances made by the offshore wind sector, which has grown in size and sophistication over the past few years.

“But that’s not all.

“We want to get better and better, with the ambition to invest around €8 billion net in the years 2024 to 2030 in developing clean energy projects in the UK.”

The Northern Echo | Business News