Commenting on the announcement from Siemens to build an offshore wind manufacturing facility on the Humber, Richard Wright, executive director of Sheffield Chamber of Commerce, said:
“This major investment is good news for the Sheffield City Region because the decision to source and assemble the manufacturing facility in the UK should benefit our engineering supply chains.
“Sheffield based company ITM Power, for example, has a proven technology for storing energy through hydrogen and this development could be a big opportunity for them.
“Renewable energy is always going to be a major part of the future economy and it needs to be a bigger proportion than it currently is.
“There is still some debate about wind energy versus tidal energy. Wind is technically more advanced, but tidal is more reliable. Both areas need to be developed further to help meet the energy shortage the UK is facing.
“Investing heavily in wind energy from the North Sea highlights two other big investment requirements – the need for a more effective distribution system and the need to store energy being generated.
“Wind energy isn’t always available when demand is high. Our requirements will always be patchy so storing the energy effectively will allow us to tap into that power when required.”
Renewable energy and the oil & gas sectors will be key topics at this year’s Global Manufacturing Festival 2014 at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing on June 25.
