RiDO Rotherham Investment & Development Office

Rotherham’s Martek Marine Ltd have been working on a new project that will provide a range of support and consultancy services to offshore wind farm developers and their supply chain.

The “Renewables Network” is due to be launched later this summer and will host a number of events and offer training opportunities to firms operating in the offshore wind industry. In addition, it will also provide support for firms trying to find private equity funding. Initially the network will be focussed on the Humber region before expanding to support the wider offshore wind industry.

Martek Marine is the world leader in the manufacture of safety and environmental emissions monitoring systems for the global marine industry. The company started nine years ago from a small base in RiDO’s Century Business Centre at Manvers and grew steadily until it moved into its own premises two years ago.

Martek Marine’s CEO Paul Luen commented: "I think for any sector, the availability of valuable finance is always going to be a challenge. The situation for offshore wind is slightly different because it could be argued that it's underpinned by government renewable energy targets. That's not to say that funding isn't a challenge, but part of the challenge is to create a competitive supply chain to drive down costs."

The Renewables Network will help to fill a void created by the axing of the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) which had previously provided investment and support to many low carbon projects up to now. Chancellor George Osborne recently announced that RDAs will be replaced by new Local Enterprise Partnerships.

Martek is investing a five figure sum in the new network, and is already working with a number of major developers including Eon, Siemens, Centrica and Dong Energy. In addition they are also going to be working with Scandinavian developers to gain valuable insight into how to build up the industry.

For further information visit the Martek Marine website here