About the GIA Project
Green Port Hull has been successful in securing a major investment by Siemens-Gamesa in the off-shore wind sector and is well underway in its mission to make the Hull and East Riding a powerhouse when it comes to the renewable sector. The aim of Green Port Hull Impact Assessment (GIA) project is to provide Green Port Hull with the evidence that its strategy to develop a sustainable, world-class renewable sector in Hull and East-Riding is working, and to help it become even more efficient in attracting inward investment while ensuring the maximum economic, social and environmental benefits to its population and businesses.
The three-year project will review the processes and main operating principles of Green Port Hull, providing valuable insights to stakeholders as to possible areas of improvement. It will study the economic, environmental and social impacts of developing a new industry using the Siemens-Gamesa investment as a business case. It will provide evidence, analytics and key performance indicators, on an on-going basis, to the stakeholders and to the public. These will be used to devise new strategies or revise current ones, and to take corrective actions whenever necessary to attract and develop businesses all along the renewable value chain. The expectations of three key project stakeholders are -
- Green Port Hull: How can Green Port Hull be more efficient in bringing inward investment, creating jobs and making Hull and East Riding the go-to place for renewable energy and wind in particular?
- Siemens-Gamesa: To quantify the social, environmental and economic impact of creating 1000 plus jobs in the region and devise strategies or provide evidence that the current strategies in place for the sustainable growth of the off-shore wind industry are working. As well as the important aspects such as skills and training, health and well-being of the people in the region is being considered
- Hull City Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Council: To ensure that the Local Authorities population and indigenous businesses benefit the most from the investment, and identify where investments and infrastructure are a requirement to support skills and knowledge development, economic growth and well-being of population.
About Green Port Hull
Green Port Hull was setup in 2010 by Hull City Council (HCC), East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) and Associated British Ports as an organisation to promote investment in the renewable energy sector in the Humber region, to support investors in the development of their supply chain and to secure long-term economic growth. Building upon the strategic location of the Humber estuary, Green Port’s vision is to establish Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire as a world-class centre for renewable energy, creating wealth and employment for the region. Green Port’s strategy is to offer the right environment for investors with dedicated investor support and facilitation for business setup and Enterprise Zone incentives. It will also ensure land availability, investment in developing a skilled workforce, as well as research and the development of knowledge in the renewable sector in collaboration with the University of Hull (UoH) through the Regional Growth Fund.
Green Port has been successful in attracting Siemens-Gamesa to the region, and in 2014 Siemens-Gamesa announced its decision to invest £160 million (EUR190m) in wind turbine production; to be spread across two sites comprising an assembly and service facility in Hull, and a rotor blade manufacturing facility in nearby Paull (East Riding). Siemen’s port partner Associated British Ports (ABP) announced an additional investment of £150 million in the Green Port Hull development. The combined investments of £310 million will provide a huge boost to the Humber region and to UK’s offshore wind industry. It will create up to 1,000 jobs directly, with additional jobs during construction and indirectly in the supply chain.
Siemens-Gamesa plans were later changed to develop a leaner, more efficient wind turbine blade manufacturing facility on a single site at Alexandra Dock in Hull3. The commitment to create 1,000 direct jobs through the £310 million investment on the Humber remained unchanged. Construction work at the Alexandra Dock site started in summer 2015, with the first wind turbine blades scheduled to come off the production line from winter 2016. The first task will be to produce 67 giant 6MW turbines for Statoil's Dudgeon offshore wind farm, off the north Norfolk coast.
For more information about Green Port Hull visit https://greenporthull.co.uk/
GIA Project Objectives and Scope
Now that Green Port Hull is well underway, an objective review of its operating principles, achievements and an assessment of the economic, social and environmental impacts to sustain the growth of the renewable sector are necessary to provide the essential feedback and to identify and improve weaknesses so that the original objectives are not only met but surpassed and that Green Port effectively creates the business environment for Hull and East Riding to become the go-to-place and a world leader for renewable energy.
Considering the expectations of the stakeholders, the main project objectives are:
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To assess Green Port Hull’s ability to attract inwards investment in the area of renewable energy. In particular:
- To identify opportunities for improvement in processes, organisation and provide a true one stop for inward investors and their developments;
- To identify threats posed by competitors (National and European);
- To identify the right incentives and gaps in policies, infrastructure, skills and knowledge, to make Hull/East Riding a world leader in renewable energy;
- To assess the socio-economic-environmental impact of Siemen’s investment in Hull, and to provide insights on how to maximise the benefits of this investment for the region, and also to attract players in the supply chain;
- To provide Green Port Hull, Siemens-Gamesa and the Local Authorities with KPIs and analytics, on an on-going basis, for management to steer, achieve and surpass its set objectives.
The geographical scope of the project is limited to Hull and East Riding. The project will not be restricted to offshore wind energy, but will include other types of renewable energy and the related businesses in the value chain. Examples include, Onshore wind, Biomass, Energy Transmission, Energy Storage, Geothermal, Anaerobic Digestion, Recycling, Carbon Capture, Tidal, Wave and Solar. It will also look at requirements at all stages of the industry from design to manufacturing, installation, servicing and decommissioning whenever applicable.
GIA Project Team and Timelines
The GIA project team from The University of Hull comprises three Professors from Logistics (Amar Ramudhin), Geography (David Gibbs) and Economics (Jonathan Atkins); supported by other academics, Research Assistants/Associates and a dedicated project manager (Barry Holleman). The research team is responsible for the Green Port Impact assessment which involves using primary data sources (Local Field Survey) and secondary data sources (eg. National statistics/database) to develop and measure economic, social and environmental metrics on an on-going basis.
The 3-year project timeline is structured as follows:
Baseline assessment, process, policy and strategy review, metric definition and data gathering and analysis
Strategy refinements and continuous improvement cycles.
Evaluation and feedback together with continuation of the reporting improvements.
The project team meets on a monthly basis with a steering committee which oversees progress. The members of the steering committee come from various organisations such as Green Port Hull, Hull City Council, East Riding Yorkshire Council, Siemens-Gamesa and ABP.
The steering committee (from left to right) Dawn Hall, Sarah Clark , Kathryn Batty, Emmanuel Okyere, Barry Holleman, David Gibbs, Amar Ramudhin, David Reetham, Ian Bowman, Helen Stinson.