The new owner of one of the world's largest offshore wind projects has committed to building its operations and maintenance base in Great Yarmouth - creating more than 200 new jobs. 

RWE bought the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone for £963m from Swedish developer Vattenfall earlier this year.

The three offshore wind farms - Norfolk Vanguard East, Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk Boreas - are located 50 to 80km off the Norfolk coast, each with a planned capacity of 1.4 gigawatts (GW), which will power more than four million homes across the UK.

Eastern Daily Press: RWE's Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone's three projects: Norfolk Vanguard East, Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk BoreasRWE's Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone's three projects: Norfolk Vanguard East, Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk Boreas (Image: RWE)

Vattenfall had previously announced Great Yarmouth as its chosen location for its base at the new £21.4m Operations and Maintenance Campus, which was commissioned by Norfolk County Council in a partnership project in collaboration with Great Yarmouth Borough Council and the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership.

Now, RWE has announced its commitment to Great Yarmouth and is set to create more than 200 new jobs across the three-decade lifetime of the project. 

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Richard Beck, RWE operations and maintenance package manger, told the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR)’s Southern North Sea (SNS2024) conference: “I have been engaging with Peel Ports and Great Yarmouth Borough Council for two and a half years. A competitive tender has been carried out and we have a reservation arrangement.

“It is a great space. They have a proven track record in and around Great Yarmouth. Equinor’s base is slightly further up the river and it has great proximity of our wind farms.

“There are lots of opportunities for growth there. It is very versatile with potential for usage in the Outer Harbour and for helicopter operations if the need arises.

“We are really looking forward to creating new 200-plus jobs for the lifetime of the wind farm from an operations and maintenance perspective."

Eastern Daily Press: Richard Beck, RWE’s Norfolk offshore wind projects package manager for operations and maintenance, reaffirms RWE’s commitment to build the operations and maintenance base for its projects off the Norfolk coast at Great YarmouthRichard Beck, RWE’s Norfolk offshore wind projects package manager for operations and maintenance, reaffirms RWE’s commitment to build the operations and maintenance base for its projects off the Norfolk coast at Great Yarmouth (Image: TMS)

Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone

German energy company RWE announced it had acquired the Norfolk Offshore Wind portfolio from Vattenfall in December last year - completing the £963m purchase in March.

The Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone is made up of three projects - Norfolk Vanguard East, Norfolk Vanguard West and Norfolk Boreas - located 50 to 80km off the Norfolk coast in the North Sea. 

Each has a planned capacity of 1.4GW and together will power more than four million UK homes. 

After 13 years of development, the three projects have already secured seabed rights, grid connections, development consent orders and other key permits. 

Eastern Daily Press: Vattenfall has permission to build two large windfarms in the North Sea called Boreas and Vanguard.

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Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE offshore wind, said: “With the acquisition of the Norfolk Offshore Wind Zone portfolio, we are taking over three well-advanced offshore wind projects from Vattenfall.

"I am very happy that we will work with Vattenfall towards facilitating team continuity to ensure the successful handover and further development of the projects.

"Equally I am looking forward to continuing the work with the supply chain companies. We will deliver these as part of our Growing Green investment and growth programme.“

Tom Glover, RWE’s UK country chair, added: “The UK has been one of our most important core markets for decades.

"We are delighted that we can now further contribute to achieving the UK’s ambitious build-out targets for offshore wind.

"The timely and efficient deployment of offshore wind is essential to ensure the UK’s domestic energy security, as well as achieving our net zero targets.

"We very much welcome the UK government’s recent decisions on future offshore wind auctions which provides us with the confidence to invest and represents a positive step in maximising the UK’s clean energy potential, ensuring sustained and lowest prices for consumers and creating good quality jobs.”