At the beginning of November SSE Renewables welcomed members of the Scottish and wider UK supply chain to its Meet the Buyer events in Inverness, Aberdeen and Dundee.
The events were a chance for companies to meet with SSE Renewables and some of the Tier 1 contractors to discuss contract opportunities available on SSE Renewables’ Seagreen offshore wind farm.
Ahead of the event, over 500 people signed up to attend, with businesses of all disciplines registering to come along, ranging from civil engineers to drone specialists to cleaning companies to health and safety experts.
John Casserly, SSE Renewables Head of Procurement and Commercial said: “We’ve had a great few days travelling across the north-east of Scotland to discuss contract opportunities on our Seagreen project with members of the local supply chain.
“We, and our Tier 1 suppliers, are incredibly grateful to everyone that came out to meet with us last week – we were absolutely blown away by the attendance and engagement with the event.”
The morning of each event was dedicated to presentations, attendees heard from SSE Renewables Head of Procurement and Commercial about the scale of the Seagreen project and the benefits it could bring, as well as from members of Seagreen’s Tier 1 supply chain including MHI Vestas Offshore Wind and Nexans over the course of the morning. You can view the master presentation here.
The afternoon was separated into ten-minute one-to-one slots where members of the supply chain could speak to different members of the team and Tier 1 suppliers on more specific aspects of the project including; turbines, offshore substructures and foundations, transportation and installation, ports and related services, onshore substation, offshore cables, operations and maintenance as well as general support services.
John added: “The benefits of Meet the Buyer go beyond just securing a potential contract for Seagreen, this was an opportunity to meet with major players in the burgeoning offshore industry and hear directly from them what they are looking for.
“Hopefully these events have helped companies understand, not just what we’re looking for at Seagreen, but what offshore wind developers across Scotland and the UK are looking for more widely when they go to develop these projects, helping them to focus their service offerings ahead of contracts becoming available.”
Seagreen offshore wind farm is 114 turbine offshore wind farm development 27km off the Angus coast. The project is expected to reach final investment decision in 2020 with onshore construction commencing soon after and offshore construction set to start in 2021.