SeAH Wind is set to invest USD 367M to build the world’s largest offshore wind turbine base factory in Teesside Freeport in the United Kingdom, reflecting the UK’s ambitious plans for renewable power.
The company has received the plans approval for the factory, which is designed to accommodate the production of new extra-large monopiles and will become SeAH Wind’s first plant of this kind outside South Korea.
The facility will produce monopiles of up to 120 metres in length, 15.5 metres in diameter and weighing 3,000 tonnes. Through the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, the UK government is bankrolling the project with a USD 143M grant.
When fully operational in 2024, the factory is expected to produce between 100 and 150 monopiles per year, which will be transported directly from the factory to Teesworks’ new South Bank Quay facility before heading to the North Sea for installation.
The SeAH Wind factory will create 1,500 supply chain and construction jobs when work begins in July, along with a further 750 jobs when the site is fully operational.