Tata Steel teams up to play bigger role in renewables

Joining Team Humber Marine Alliance (THMA), which represents more than 140 companies from around the Humber region, will allow steel manufacturer Tata Steel to build on the investment it has put into new equipment and machinery at its Scunthorpe facilities.

As part of the globally diversified Tata Group, Tata Steel wants to develop the market for its steel products and services in the renewable energy sector, said Phil Knowles, commercial manager for power generation and renewables at Tata Steel.

“We have made major developments in the Humber region in the past 12 months including the creation of a dedicated wind tower hub in Scunthorpe to process and distribute up to 200,000 tonnes each year of steel plate,” said Mr Knowles, who believes THMA’s unique collaborative approach can help the company’s ambitions.

He said: “We recognise that for things to work there has to be more collaborative effort from everyone involved, a joint voice, and a shared, collective approach, that will spark opportunities.”

Becoming a THMA member allows Tata Steel to pressure government into greater support for business in the region, said the company.

Mr Knowles said: “There is a real need for government to think more strategically about the UK’s manufacturing supply chains. This means giving support and encouragement to fill the supply chain gaps that have arisen in recent decades and to strengthen those links in new industries like renewables, so that value can be captured properly in the UK.”

Mark O’Reilly, director at THMA, said: “To meet the requirements of the North Sea’s Round 2 and Round 3 wind farms will demand companies with the expertise, skills and facilities of the very highest order.

“Tata Steel is one such company, which is why we’re delighted to have the chance to work more closely with them, not just on potential future renewable energy projects, but in other sectors in which our members operate, including commercial shipping and offshore oil and gas.”

Tata Steel’s wind tower hub in Scunthorpe offers a range of services including shot-blasting, priming, cutting of plate to size and edge profiling ready for welding.

The machines process profiled plate for tubular wind tower structures. The steel plates are manufactured either at the adjacent plate mill or at Tata Steel’s Dalzell plate mill in Motherwell.

Tata Steel has a combined aggregate crude steel capacity of more than 28 million tonnes and approximately 80,000 employees across four continents.

Team Humber Marine Alliance works to provide partnerships between experts in the private and public sector to put the Humber on the world stage.