Seajacks Hosts Minister Fallon for Roundtable Discussions on Energy in East Anglia

Seajacks yesterday hosted the Energy Minister, Rt. Hon. Michael Fallon, MP at its Great Yarmouth offices for an EEEGR roundtable event on the energy opportunity in East Anglia.

The Minister was in the region to open the Greater Gabbard wind farm and tour other energy sites and kicked-off his visit by visiting the new Seajacks offices, meeting the staff and attending a roundtable event, introduced by Seajacks CEO Blair Ainslie.

The roundtable event was organised by the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR, of which Blair Ainslie is a Board Member) and was attended by some of the leading energy leaders in East Anglia as well as local MP, Brandon Lewis. It gave the Minister the chance to hear from them why East Anglia is at the forefront of the energy sector in the UK, particularly in offshore wind, and for energy leaders to press their case for the Government to continue to support renewable and other energy sources in the region.

Blair Ainslie commented:

‘It was a great honour for us to have the Minister visit us on his tour of the energy highlights in our region. We made sure that he understood that East Anglia is the leading region for energy production, particularly offshore wind, and he certainly left the meeting with a stronger appreciation of the work that Seajacks and our colleagues are doing to bring growth and jobs in the energy sector to East Anglia.’

Energy and Business Minister Michael Fallon said:

‘Seajacks is a perfect example of a local business benefiting from supply chain opportunities that offshore wind brings. They are investing in the ships that transport these great turbines out to sea, and employing hundreds of local people.’

After the roundtable, the Minister opened the Grater Gabbard wind farm, which Seajacks were main installers for and said:

‘Greater Gabbard has already brought jobs and wider benefit to the local community, with hundreds of people employed on site. It has also benefited local business. Today, I visited Seajacks, a British company based in Great Yarmouth, who are building the world’s largest and most advanced offshore wind farm installation vessel to transport turbines out to this great wind farm. This sector is an engine of our economy.’

Local MP and CLG Minister Brandon Lewis MP who attended the meeting said:

‘I was delighted to have the opportunity to help showcase the fantastic work undertaken by Seajacks here in Great Yarmouth. Seajacks is just one of the booming companies working in the offshore energy sector; creating good quality jobs and helping the local economy.’

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Press release, August 8, 2013; Image: Seajacks