Grimsby company’s “wind” bonus

04 March 2008

GRIMSBY company Cosalt is at the forefront of Britain's quest for renewable energy.

The company is supplying safety equipment for the country's biggest offshore windfarm which is being developed off the Lincolnshire coast and should be operational later this year..

Centrica's Lynn and Inner Dowsing project - in the North Sea just five kilometres from the Skegness and Ingoldmells seafronts - will feature 54 wind turbines.

The turbines, with a blade height of 134 metres (435 feet), will generate enough zero-carbon power for half the homes in Lincolnshire (130,000).  It will be piped ashore on a cable which passes underneath North Shore Golf Course and then joins up with the national network.

Cosalt is supplying a range of safety and rigging equipment to both Centrica Renewable Energy and some of its sub-contractors.

These include Danish company MT Hojgaard, which has put in place the foundations for the 54 turbines, and Subocean of Aberdeen who are laying the cables between the turbines.

For Centrica Renewable Energy, Cosalt are providing personal protective equipment for 30 staff ranging from flotation suits to fall arrest harnesses and Crewsaver lifejackets. A similar range of safety equipment has been provided for MT Hojgaard while marine rigging equipment has been supplied to Subocean which operates a barge, the UR101, complete with cranes and winches for cable laying.

Britain aims to produce 10 per cent of its electricity generation from renewables by 2010 and is targeting 20 per cent by 2020, and Cosalt wants to play its full part.

Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, has plans for an even bigger windfarm off Skegness, the Lincs Project, which will be east of Lynn and Dowsing and will supply power for 150,000 homes with the energy taken on a pipeline through the centre of the Wash and into Norfolk. 

Even bigger windfarms further out to sea off the Wash, the Docking Shoal and Race Bank projects, are being planned.

Cosalt, which has also worked in partnership with Centrica in its North Sea oil and gas fields, will look to play a part in these and other projects.

Said business development manager in Grimsby, David Gilroy: "We have 15 branches around the UK, well placed in most major ports which are the logistical centres for this type of work."

Issued on behalf of Cosalt Safety and Protection by Nigel Lowther Associates Ltd. Media inquiries should be referred to Sarah Avery on 01472 504288 or Nigel Lowther (0792 0102303).