Isra-Mart srl: Tata Steel powers up offshore wind supply chain

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Tata Steel has signed two major deals to supply wind turbine jacket foundations as the company seeks to take advantage of the UK's emerging offshore wind energy market.

The Indian conglomerate yesterday confirmed it is building a £2m central supply base in Hartlepool, to be completed by next spring, that will produce steel tubular sections for wind turbine foundations.

A spokeswoman from Tata said the company is currently bidding to supply upcoming projects, but is primarily eyeing up Round 3 wind farms being constructed 2015 onwards.

It also announced a separate deal to supply plates to German steel pipe producer Eisenbau Krämer (EBK), which will be used to make foundations for wind turbines.

The agreement will see the companies produce tubes from plates manufactured by Tata Steel's plants in Scunthorpe or Dalzell.

Ramsay Ross, a director for tubes at Tata Steel, said the investment underlines the company's commitment to boosting its presence in the expanding renewable energy sector.

"The wind tower hub in Scunthorpe, which was launched last year to process and distribute steel plate for fabricators, was a key step in this strategy," he said. "This separate development, in which we will be modifying buildings and investing in new assets at Hartlepool, is the next stage."

The news comes a week after Tata Steel signed three "Green Deals" with the Dutch government to reduce the environmental impact of its Ijmuiden steel-making facilities in Northern Holland.

The government will support three projects, worth a total of €10m, that are designed to enhance the efficiency of the site's blast furnaces, steel meltshop and wide hot strip mill in order to save 0.3 petajoules of energy (83 million kWh) a year.

The agreements were part of a red tape cutting programme launched by the government last week, which saw 40 Dutch companies and industry bodies sign deals to boost sustainable investment.