By Rikki Stancich in Paris

Corus, Europe's second largest steel producer, has announced its plans to construct a new £31.5-million manufacturing plant to produce steel monopile foundation structures for offshore wind turbines.

The redundant buildings on the company’s 3,000-acre Teesside site will be re-equipped to handle monopile production and shipment of monopile structures weighing up to 650 tonnes.

Corus estimates that about 6 million tonnes of steel will be needed over the next 10 years to make the foundations and tower structures for offshore wind turbines.

WindEnergyUpdate speak to Corus European sales manager, Richard Broughton about how suppliers are gearing up to capture the next wave of offshore opportunity.

WindEnergyUpdate: The development of a new plant is dependent on Corus securing enough orders for monopiles. How many orders are required and how confident is Corus that the order book will be filled?

Richard Broughton: We will be looking to work with developers and generators who require high quality monopile type foundations for UK and EU offshore wind projects.

This initiative complements Corus existing offerings into the renewable energy sector and confirms its intent to become a major player in this arena.   

We are confident that the market for offshore wind foundations is already strong enough to allow us to target upcoming projects.

We anticipate being able to produce more than 100 monopiles per year at the new facility.

WindEnergyUpdate: What kind of infrastructure and logistics will be required to get the monopiles from factory to port?

Richard Broughton: We anticipate using and developing the existing assets on our Teesside site. The site is based on the River Tees with port facilities.

WindEnergyUpdate: Given its location and the existing rail link with PD ports, is Corus Teesside Works positioning itself to become an offshore wind superhub?

Richard Broughton: Our focus now is on developing, and finding enough orders for, a new monopile production plant.

WindEnergyUpdate: To what extent can steel from decommissioned platforms in the North Sea be reused for offshore wind foundations?

Richard Broughton: Steel is 100% recyclable. We cannot comment whether platforms would be reused as this is an issue for the decommissioners.  

However, it is normal to recycle any steel not reused and steel can be recycled indefinitely without loss of property or performance. There is recycled steel in all the new steel we produce.

WindEnergyUpdate:  Given the massive pending demand for monopiles, is there likely to be a bottleneck and how does Corus intend to service this demand?

Richard Broughton: We are currently looking for sufficient orders to be able to set up a new plant. This new facility would of course create extra monopile capacity in
the industry.

To respond to this article, please write to the editor:

Rikki Stancich: rstancich@gmail.com