Cranes currently being manufactured by Sparrows Group for a Scottish Power windfarm off the coast of Suffolk, have been demonstrated to MP Colin Clark at the company’s head office in Aberdeen.
The firm is supplying 102 cranes for each of the offshore development’s turbines, which once built and operational, will provide enough clean energy to power the equivalent of almost 500,000 homes in the UK.
Sparrows is currently the only company in the UK with the capability to design and manufacture luffing cranes suitable for the offshore wind industry.
Clark visited the firm’s facilities which are based in his Gordon constituency in Aberdeen. The company’s workshop has recently been reconfigured to meet its growing number of work scopes in the renewable sector.
Stewart Mitchell, chief executive, said: “Sparrows Group has become a key player in the UK renewable industry over the last 24 months, following strategic diversification which is now paying dividends for the business.
“At least 95% of our crane parts come from across the UK and we are building them here in Aberdeen.”
Clark commented: “The UK offshore wind sector is continuing to grow at pace and it is vital that we look to secure Aberdeen’s reputation as a global skills hub. There is a vast range of capabilities in the North East, thanks to the oil and gas industry, which can be utilised for wind energy developments in the UK.”
16 Apr 2018
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