Joint venture agreement boosts Cosalt's renewables business

27 July 2010

Cosalt, the specialist provider of critical safety equipment for the marine, industrial and offshore markets, has signed a new joint venture agreement with Danish company APRO, an engineering services business with many years experience in the wind energy market.  The synergy between the two companies creates a unique partnership that has the size, skills, expertise and market knowledge to take advantage of the major growth expected in UK offshore wind energy.

Already a strong and respected brand in the offshore oil and gas and commercial marine markets, Cosalt recently set up a dedicated Renewable Energy division to supply inspection and testing services plus marine safety, lifting equipment, tooling and height safety products to the renewables sector, particularly offshore wind farms.  It also provides legislative compliance support, quality assurance and health & safety competency services through its Cosalt Compliance team.

This specialist product offering combines well with APRO's engineering expertise and long-standing customer relationships in the wind energy market. Established in 1998, APRO has an excellent reputation for installing and servicing onshore and offshore wind turbines. It has contracts with many of the world's major wind turbine manufacturers, including Vestas and Siemens.  Given the huge potential growth in the UK offshore wind market, APRO is keen to replicate the success it has achieved in Denmark.

Cosalt, with its branches located in close proximity to the UK and mainland Europe's key wind turbine development sites, is ideally placed to service the offshore wind sector as more investment comes on-stream. The company has 11 UK operational bases many of which, such as Grimsby, Newcastle, Lowestoft, Edinburgh, Southampton and Birkenhead, offer immediate access to the wind farms being built off the UK coastline. In the Humber area alone the forecast is for an additional 5000 wind turbines to be in operation by 2020.

The joint venture with APRO will be known as Cosalt Wind Energy and will sit under Cosalt's Renewables division. Based in Cosalt's new Head Office in Grimsby, the venture will be headed up by Winston Phillips, Managing Director of Cosalt's Renewables business. Joining him on the Board of Directors of Cosalt Wind Energy Ltd will be Lauge Fredhave and Henrik Moeller-Jensen, the joint owners of APRO.

Mark Lejman, CEO of Cosalt, said: "Today's announcement follows on from our declared intention in our interim results statement to pursue opportunities in the renewable energy sector.  This joint venture with APRO is an important step towards realising our objective of developing a major renewables business in the UK and Europe. Together we can deliver a complete package of safety, engineering and inspection services to the wind energy market."

Commented Winston Phillips: "This joint venture is excellent news for both Cosalt and APRO. Together we can deliver a unique and comprehensive package of services and products to the wind energy market. Cosalt Wind Energy combines Cosalt's specialist offering, our extensive offshore oil and gas experience and expansive European branch network with APRO's acknowledged servicing expertise and strong customer relationships with the major wind turbine manufacturers."

"Over the next few months we will be strengthening our dedicated operations and customer service team in Grimsby as well as looking to recruit additional service engineers.  APRO has a great deal of experience in this area and their recruitment and training skills will prove invaluable. We are also setting up an apprenticeship scheme so that we can develop a large and highly skilled workforce that will grow with us as we take on more business."

Added APRO CEO Henrik Moeller-Jensen: "We are looking forward to working in partnership with Cosalt. Our two companies compliment each other very well and we feel there is much to be gained from sharing our market knowledge and technical expertise.  We have worked in the wind energy sector for many years and we know how to recruit, train and manage a large workforce of qualified wind turbine engineers. The formation of Cosalt Wind Energy means we can now back this up with all the products and services required to operate safely and effectively in a hostile offshore environment."