Ex-bifab yard to create 290 jobs after winning turbines order
NEARLY 300 jobs are to be created at a bought-out yard in Fife for the manufacture of wind turbine foundations.
Burntisland Fabrications (Bifab), which has yards in Burntisland and Methil in Fife and one on Lewis, went into administration at the end of last year after the Scottish Government ruled out nationalising the company.
It should create 290 jobs at the former Bifab site, directly employed and in supplies, with work starting in July.
The Arnish yard on Lewis may also get some support work, as well as sites in Belfast and Devon.
The yards were owned by Bifab, which went into administration last December, before being taken over by Infrastrata.
The platforms will be supplied for wind turbines being installed off the coast of Fife.
The Methil fabrication yard had previously been unable to secure the deal to fabricate turbine platforms, after the Scottish Government, a part owner of the firm, withdrew its offer of a £30 million contract guarantee. It claimed it was no longer legal for a government to do so.
The yard was taken over in February by London firm Infrastrata, operating under the historic Harland and Wolff brand, which already owned a shipyard in Belfast.
The new owner has now been awarded a contract by Saipem Limited for the fabrication, consolidation and load-out of the foundations to be conducted at the Methil plant.
The contract schedule is due to begin on July 1 and it is anticipated it will create about 290 direct and indirect jobs.
Infrastrata chief executive John Wood said: “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 that are strategically located within proximity to major wind farm projects.
“I am confident this is only the beginning of a stream of projects in our pipeline that we expect to come to fruition.
“We are hugely excited about the massive potential this first contract has unlocked, and we look forward to working with Saipem to successfully deliver under it.”
The jacket foundations will service the Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Farm project, owned by EDF Renewables and ESB, located in the outer Firth of Forth.
The Methil fabrication yard has become a focus of the disappointment and frustration at so few manufacturing jobs coming to Scotland from the renewable energy boom.
Scotland has not secured a turbine factory, and its hopes of fabrication work have been dashed because the drive to reduce costs on offshore wind have pushed developers to place orders with overseas yards that have more scale, efficiency and government subsidy.
The NNG wind farm developer is also reminding us jobs are not only in manufacturing, but in port facilities at Dundee and Leith, and a permanent maintenance base at Eyemouth.
STUC general secretary Rozanne Foyer said: “This is a vindication of the relentless campaigning of workers in Fife and the Western Isles and the tenacity of the unions, GMB and Unite, who represent them.
“We have always said there can and must be a future for the construction part of the renewables supply chain in Scotland. This provides some hope.”
“It is of course one small part of what must develop into an industrial strategy for Scotland that ends the off-shoring of supply chain work and creates a plan for jobs.”
I am confident this is only the beginning of a stream of projects... we expect to come to fruition