News has emerged that west Scotland firm, Steel Engineering, has won a contract from Samsung Heavy Industries to supply a jacket foundation and transition piece for the Korean firm’s first offshore test of its 7MW turbine.
Delivery is scheduled for the second quarter of next year, Windpower Offshore understands. The Samsung offshore test is earmarked for a dockside location in Methil, Fife, with Steel Engineering also contracted to provide on-site work following supply of the components.
Steel Engineering’s contract with Samsung was kept under wraps for several months, with work having begun back in August, the steel fabricator’s managing director, Peter Breslin, told Windpower Offshore.
The Samsung deal is not Steel Engineering’s only recent success in the UK offshore wind market; the firm has also secured the contract to supply foundations and transition pieces for the East Anglia zone’s two meteorological masts.
Breslin argues that Steel Engineering’s success in winning the East Anglia zone met mast contract serves as an important reminder that supply chain companies based in the western part of the UK are able to compete successfully for projects planned for waters off the country’s east coast.
Commenting on the Samsung contract, Breslin said: "It is a huge honour that a global giant like Samsung recognises our talent and has faith in our ability to manufacture and deliver… Securing the contract is testament to our competitive pricing schedules and our on-going investment and commitment to the renewable energy sector, which has included the establishment of a renewable energy training academy to create a skilled workforce for the sector." BiFab was one of the companies that Steel Engineering beat to win the Samsung contract was BiFab, despite BiFab's close physical proximity to the Methil test site.
Samsung is due to supply 12 units of its as-yet-uncertified 7MW machine for an 84MW project planned for waters of Jeju island, Korea.
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