Sofia partners with NOF Energy for OWNE 2020
For the third year running Sofia was a strategic partner with NOF Energy for the annual flagship offshore wind event, Offshore Wind North East 2020. Except this year it was virtual.
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Sofia was once again a strategic partner at the NOF Energy and Energi Coast Offshore Wind North East event in 2020. Whilst this year the event was fully virtual, it still offered attendees the chance to hear the latest about the sector, particularly activity in the North East.
The virtual platform was buzzing with networking activity with a number of the Sofia procurement and consents teams on hand to engage with local supply chain companies and others. More than 80 meetings were held with suppliers over the two days of the event in early November.
Given the recent focus on UK supply chain opportunities, a key highlight was the session: Sofia Offshore Wind Farm – creating local jobs, regional economic benefit and supply chain opportunities with representatives from Sofia as well as two of the project's preferred suppliers, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and GE Renewable Energy .
At the session Project Director, David Few provided an update on Sofia – timelines and the current status of project packages. This was followed by Supply Chain Plan Manager Helen Thomas who shared thoughts on how developers can demonstrate good supply chain engagement, emphasising the importance of a diverse and competitive supply chain for the future growth of the offshore wind industry.
Sofia also enabled staff and students from Teesside University to attend by providing them with free virtual passes.
Feedback from the event was positive, with one delegate sending in the following to NOF Energy:
“Thanks very much for a couple of really useful days last week. I thought it was very well organised, with the hosts doing an excellent job steering the discussions. The presentations were all interesting with just the right amount of detail which gave a better understanding of the industry.
Good to see companies such as RWE willing to engage with smaller companies such as our own. This will help them in the longer term because they will end up with exactly the products they want and save themselves valuable engineering time as the supply chain can do the work in their relevant areas of expertise.”
