Showcasing Inch Cape’s North East suppliers
With more than 300 UK suppliers involved in Inch Cape to date, Offshore Wind North East 2025 gave the project an opportunity to shine a light on those from the North East of England.
Offshore wind projects rely on collaboration as well as innovative engineering, project management and engagement, and the NOF-organised Energi Coast-supported Sunderland event provided a platform to highlight them all.
Through a panel of gathered key suppliers, attendees heard about their huge contributions to the project with high-level overviews and insights from:
- Stuart McMullan of Smulders, fabricator of the offshore substation platform – Siemens Energy Offshore Transformer Module (OTM®) – and jacket foundation;
- David Brennan of Eastgate Engineering, working closely with Smulders on key facets in the delivery of the OTM®;
- Michael Hepton of Enshore Subsea, installer of the first export cable – one of the world’s largest AC cables – with one more to come in 2026, and
- Will Stephenson of Harlyn, with its support of the export cable mobilisation from the Port of Blyth and with the ongoing cable storage.
Also on the stage was Chris Winter of Vestas, presenting the company, its Inch Cape work and how local suppliers can get involved when all 72 of its V236-15MW turbines are marshalled from the Port of Dundee.
The session was introduced and rounded-off by Caroline Lofthouse of NOF and Energi Coast and the panel discussion moderated by Inch Cape’s Sue Vincent who also gave an update on the project.
The presentations from the session are now available to view online here.
