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Engineers boosted by North Sea Turbines August 2006 Reproduced with permission from The Journal Northern Business Daily  Picture © REpower A hugely ambitious project to install the world's biggest wind turbines in the North Sea is helping to take a Northumberland engineering company to new heights. And managing director Tony Trapp says further growth is likely, such is the global demand for high quality engineering work at the moment. The Riding Mill-based company's profile is rising as the two 120m high turbines are floated out on barges to the Beatrice oilfield off the east coast of Scotland this week. The Engineering Business has designed a system for lifting the turbines on to undersea pylons, known as jackets, which are fixed to the seabed 12 miles off the Cromarty Firth, around 20 miles north of Inverness. It has commissioned 530 tonnes of equipment to be used in putting the 1,000-tonne turbines in place. The turbines will generate five megawatts of electricity each, compared to the two megawatts generated by turbines such as those found on the harbour walls in Blyth. The Beatrice turbines are being erected as a "demonstrator project" to help assess the effectiveness of offshore wind farms. They are being funded by US company Talisman Energy, along with Scottish and Southern Energy, and with assistance from the DTI, the Scottish Executive and the European Union. Mr Trapp said he was confident more work would follow the Beatrice project, with The Engineering Business already heavily involved in producing equipment for pipelaying vessels and for a submarine rescue system. The company has been in existence for less than 10 years, and two years ago employed just 35 people with a turnover of £4m - now it employs 100 permanent staff with a turnoverof £16m expected for 2006. Mr Trapp said: "We are expanding, basically. There's quite a lot going on and we are certainly looking for substantial growth next year. It's another variation of the knowledge economy - with clever people and an entrepreneurial spirit. We have a reputation for delivering things that work first time, on time, and on budget." The Engineering Business pursues three main markets - offshore oil and gas; offshore renewables; and marine defence. As well as the high profile Beatrice project, it is working with Swiss firm Allseas to deliver equipment for the deck of its pipelaying vessel Audacia, which will be carried out at the Hadrian yard on the Tyne, formerly occupied by Amec. And The Engineering Business is also working on an extremely valuable project to produce a full "deck spread" of equipment for a new vessel to lay power cables, which is currently being built in Spain. Mr Trapp said: "The message is that the offshore industry is alive and kicking and doing very well. There is huge potential. There is a huge amount going on in Holland and Norway, and there is no reason why a lot more should not be done here in the North-East - but we have not got ourselves organised to do it. There is a lot of potential in proper, straightforward engineering - offshore oil and gas are subject to a continuing boom at the moment. There are a lot of people who want jobs, but they go off to Holland or Norway at the moment. We are very short of people - mainly design engineers."
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