Hundreds of jobs

Joy at major wind farm contract

The new owner of the Bifab yard in Methil got its tenure off to the best possible start this month by landing a big contract for an offshore wind farm.

Infrastrata won a deal worth £26 million for the fabrication and load-out of eight wind turbine generator jacket foundations for the Neart na Gaoithe (NNG) project in the outer Firth of Forth.

The contract, which starts on July 1, will mainly be carried out at Methil. It is expected to create work for 290 people in Scotland.

Infrastrata, a London Stock Exchange-listed firm, now has four sites in the UK trading under the Harland & Wolff brand – Methil, Arnish on Lewis, Belfast and Devon.

John Wood, chief executive of Infrastrata, said: “I believe that this contract paves the way for the execution and delivery of future fabrication contracts, a significant number of which are currently in advanced negotiations. The geographical proximity of our Methil facility to the North Sea makes it an ideal site for fabrication and load-out to wind farm projects such as this.

“More importantly, it validates our strategic vision of expanding the group’s fabrication footprint into regions strategically located within close proximity to major wind farm projects.

“This will enable us to spread workstreams across our facilities to drive down costs, deliver against tight schedules and, crucially, align ourselves to the Government’s goal of providing wind-generated power to all homes in the UK by 2030.

“I am confident that this is only the beginning of a stream of projects in our pipeline that we expect come to fruition. We are hugely excited about the massive potential that this first contract has unlocked.”

The Port of Dundee is also playing a major part in NNG, with all 54 turbines for the project being assembled there. It has led to a £40m investment in the port.

Development of wind farms off Scotland has been viewed for a long time as a potential moneyspinner for yards north of the border, but many massive contracts have gone abroad.

However, hopes are rising that Infrastrata will significantly increase the share of renewables work coming to Scotland.

There was huge disappointment at the end of last year when Burntisland Fabrication (Bifab) – which operated the three yards at Methil, Arnish and Burntisland – went into administration.

This followed a Scottish Government decision to remove support for the ailing business and meant the loss of a key contract for wind turbine jackets for NNG.

But there was positive news in February when Infrastrata announced it had acquired substantially all assets of Bifab.

It did not buy the Burntisland yard.

The deal worth up to £850,000 involved the Methil and Arnish sites, and there are hopes that more than 1,000 jobs could be created – 600-plus at Methil and 400-plus at Arnish.

Infrastrata says it now has the largest fabrication footprint in the UK.

Methil is to be heavily focused on fabrication for oil and gas, commercial and renewables markets.

Mr Wood said the acquisition of the Bifab assets had been a very important and highly-strategic acquisition.

“We now have a footprint in Scotland, which is the hotbed for major wind farm projects as well as for shipbuilding programmes.”

■ STRATEGIC VISION: John Wood, chief executive of Infrastrata.