ScottishPower awards £1 billion wind turbine contract to Siemens Gamesa for East Anglia TWO farm off the coast of Southwold

A Yorkshire factory has been granted a £1 billion contract to build dozens of wind turbines for a farm off the Suffolk coast.

ScottishPower has tasked Siemens Gamesa to build 64 turbines for the North Sea East Anglia TWO farm, 33 kilometres off the coast of Southwold.

The 236 metre generators will be constructed at the firm’s Hull factory, which employs about 1,300 people.

Keith Anderson, chief executive of ScottishPower, said getting projects like East Anglia TWO off the blocks as quickly as possible was essential to ‘turbo-boost’ the UK’s supply chain.

It would also give companies, such as Siemens Gamesa, the confidence to invest in its facilities.

Mr Anderson added: “Britain’s clean power targets are achievable but demanding.

“We’ve doubled our investment and are ready to play our part with Government as it gets barriers out the way to build more projects like this, alongside the electricity networks needed to ferry green, homegrown power across the country.”

According to ScottishPower, East Anglia TWO would be able to generate 960 MW of energy, which it said could power more than one million homes.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed his ambition to make the UK a clean energy superpower to fire up industrial heartlands, strengthen national security, cut energy bills and increase energy security.

Ed Miliband, energy secretary, said the investment was a ‘huge vote of confidence’ in the country’s growing renewables sector.

It is estimated that it will cost about £4 billion to get East Anglia TWO up and running.

The contract comes after ScottishPower pledged to double its UK investments from £12 billion to £24 billion.