COMMUNICATION HUB FOR THE WIND ENERGY INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT ON EAST OF UNEXPLODED SCOTLAND ORDNANCE SERVICING OFFSHORE DECEMBER 2012 / JANUARY 2013 | £5.25 INTRODUCTION WIND ENERGY NETWORK SKILLS GAP INITIATIVE We continue in this edition with 2 areas of interest... • A general area where educational establishments are making considerable progress • Our next target area – Universities WIND INDUSTRY CAREERS (WIC) STEERING GROUP Our industry steering group met for the first time during RenewableUK’s event in ‘Spotlight On’ Glasgow recently. Strathclyde University was the very apt venue for the inaugural meeting and we pass on our thanks for all THE EAST OF SCOTLAND present. The first meeting was merely to discuss Our regional focus in this edition We have received many comments from the issues and set policy for moving features the East of Scotland. We various organisations so we have selected forward – notes on our discussions will visited the area recently and there is a the most informative to give our readership be circulated in due course with a further very positive atmosphere. a balanced view within the industry in this meeting scheduled for February 2013 in edition’s lead article. London. We will keep you informed on As you will see it is a very substantial further developments. feature and the overall theme is one of SERVICING OFFSHORE WINDFARMS excitement and forward thinking which FEATURE – part 1 will ensure Scotland is at the forefront of We have received so much interest to the wind energy industry – other specific this subject area that we decided to split areas of Scotland are planned for future the feature in to 2 separate parts. The editions. breadth of services and skills available by the companies involved is considerable. MOVING ON We keep hearing of companies and UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE (UXO) organisations merging, taking on staff Rather a daunting subject area and one and also moving to larger offices, which is which we were asked to cover because of great news for the industry generally. its importance within the industry. As well as the subject area giving us a great cover We don’t like to miss out so we have image we feature articles and guidance moved too! – hence the new image of from our experts on the necessary tasks your editor in front of our new offices. involved. ENERGY BILL AND THE GREEN MAGAZINE AND WEBSITE INVESTMENT BANK INTEraction – QR CODES With the recent publication of the You will notice that we have changed our Government’s Energy Bill and the official pink and green flashes indicating more launch of the Green Investment Bank, information online. QR codes have been the industry has certainly been given a substituted which means that you can substantial boost. scan the code with your smart phone and it will direct you to the featured company/ organisation micropage held within our website so that can learn much more in all sorts of formats. Duncan McGilvray Editor | Wind Energy Network www.windenergynetwork.co.uk www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 01 WIND ENERGY NETWORK We were asked to cover the whole of Scotland, however we found that there UNEXPLODED was so much going on that we had to split the area into 3 parts, to give interested contributors the opportunity to get ORDNANCE involved. UCover Image: Courtesy of RamoraXO UK The cover image was supplied by We will therefore be covering the West Ramora UK – quite a stunning image of Scotland and the North of Scotland in we hope you will agree. We have future editions been discussing this subject area with prospective contributors for some SERVICING OFFSHORE WINDFARMS time now and thought it worthy of a – part 1 special feature. This growth area has such long term potential in the industry, that we felt it Articles within the feature range from necessary to feature in more detail and general information to an actual case it has proved to be with far too much study following the procedures necessary editorial to fit into one edition. to make safe UXO found on the ocean floor – an occurrence which happens Part 2 is scheduled for the next edition. more often than the layman thinks. SPOTLIGHT ON EAST OF SCOTLAND Duncan McGilvray A wide range of articles from small Editor | Wind Energy Network companies to multi-nationals as well as organisations, educational establishments and membership groups are featured. 02 www.windenergynetwork.co.uk CONTENTS PAGE 46 Gearbox versus direct drive – the experts give their CONTENTS views PAGE 4 Energy Bill and the Green Investment Bank – we PAGE 54 Risk management – Risktec, the leaders in the field, cover the reaction from the industry to recent continue their series developments PAGE 58 Skills gap feature – focusing on established progress PAGE 6 Your Industry News section starts here to meet the needs of the industry including our target area of Universities PAGE 16 Your regular events calendar and what’s new PAGE 64 RenewableUK 2012 – report on RUK’s annual major PAGE 18 Business Development section – regular advice from industry event in Glasgow our team of experts PAGE 66 All in a day’s work – Kirill Glukhovskoy from OGN PAGE 26 Unexploded Ordnance feature – the disposal of Aquind discovered dangerous devices PAGE 68 East of Scotland feature – a substantial regional PAGE 36 Quo Vadis – we report on this unique conference focus on a very important area for the industry PAGE 38 Company profile – OGN Aquind PAGE 90 Company Management – Jim Doyle gives us advice on the benefits of non-executive directors PAGE 39 Company profile – SMD PAGE 92 Company profile – Aveillant PAGE 40 Steel Foundations feature – we concentrate on companies involved in innovative approaches to PAGE 93 Company profile – Abnormal Load Services (ALS) problems encountered PAGE 95 Servicing offshore windfarms feature – a fast PAGE 44 Law – Andrew Jackson Solicitors on ‘Keeping growing necessary service to the industry ahead of the game offshore’ UXO PAGE 104 20 Questions – Simon Harrison from Mott McDonald P07 P39 P100 GREEN ENERGY PUBLISHING LTD (NORTHERN) The Oaks, Oakwood Park Business Centre, Bishop Thornton, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 3JN GREEN ENERGY PUBLISHING LTD (SOUTHERN) OrbisEnergy, Wilde Street, Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 1XH TELEPHONE 01765 644 224 WEB SITE www.windenergynetwork.co.uk EDITORIAL [email protected] SALES [email protected] Wind Energy Network magazine is happy to accept unsolicited contributions for consideration. Editorial opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Green Energy Publishing Ltd and the company does not accept responsibility for advertising content. The publishers cannot accept any responsibility for omissions or errors. The contents of this magazine are fully protected by copyright and may not be reproduced without written permission. www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 03 INDUSTRY ARTICLE ENERGY BILL AND THE GREEN INVESTMENT BANK A POSITIVE POINTER IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION With the recent publication of the Government’s Energy Bill and As mentioned in our last edition we will be introducing a new the official launch of the Green Investment Bank, the industry has Finance Feature to the magazine and we look forward to bringing certainly been given a substantial boost. you advice and helpful information from our experts in future editions. We have received many comments from various organisations so we have selected the most informative to give our readership a balanced view within the industry. Lord Smith, UK Green Investment Bank Chair Dr Gordon Edge RenewableUK’s Director GREEN of Policy “The Green Investment Bank has the potential INVESTMENT BANK to be a game-changing component of the “Now that we’ve been able to read through UK’s low carbon economy, and a profitable the long-awaited details, it’s clear that Earlier this year the Bank was established centre of excellence in specialist and the Bill will create a strong framework for as a public company, UK Green Investment renewable investment. investment. RenewableUK is looking forward Bank plc. Following state aid approval from to refining those details with the Department the European Commission last month it is “Over the coming months and years, I am of Energy and Climate Change during the now operational as an independent bank and confident that our excellent team will put its Bill’s passage through parliament. open for business. many years of expertise to work on building the foundations of that sustainable economy, “So far this bill is on track and on schedule, In the period before state aid approval for UK GIB, and facilitating the important investments that but we can’t afford any slippage if we are to investments have been made on commercial will ensure its long-term good health.” avoid a hiatus in investment around 2017, terms by BIS’s UK Green Investments team when the financial support mechanism (UKGI). To date, UKGI has committed £180 www.bis.gov.uk switches from the Renewables Obligation to million to specialist fund managers to co-invest Contracts for Difference. equity in smaller waste infrastructure, energy REA Chief Executive Gaynor Hartnell from waste, and non domestic energy efficiency “The Bill provides welcome clarity on how projects. Assets built up by UKGI have transferred “We are pleased that the first investment is CfDs will be allocated, reducing the financial to the UK GIB. a bioenergy project. We hope that biomass risk to developers. We also welcome the and waste-to-energy – as well as offshore Department for Business Innovation & Skills move to set up a Government-backed body, wind – will form a significant component of or counterparty, to write the contracts. Vince Cable, Business Secretary the Bank’s activity. It is important to get as This will decrease risk and lower the cost much leverage as possible from the initial £3 of capital.