Webinar introduces Sofia to supply chain

Online event coordinated by NOF/Energi Coast attracted more than 500 suppliers and kicks off series of supply chain engagement.

  • 20 April 2021

Sofia webinar attracts 500 suppliers

Sofia kicked off a series of supply chain activities today with a 'teaser' event to give suppliers a chance to have an overview of the project's contracting opportunities and see the results of a supply chain survey the was run earlier this year.

Hosted and coordinated by NOF/Energi Coast, the webinar was an 'Introduction to Sofia' for those in the supply chain interested to know about future contracting opportunities. It also laid out the Sofia team's plans for ongoing engagement and how the results of the supply chain survey would be incorporated into future activity.

Sofia's Project Director, Matthew Swanwick gave an overview of the different component contractors - turbines, electrical transmission system, foundations, and array and export cables - and a high level timeline of their procurement requirements during construction.

The presentation was a way to give visibility to the supply chain on what type of goods and services will be needed by the recently appointed Tier 1 contractors including Siemens Gamesa, GE's Grid Solutions and Van Oord. These include a broad range of items from mobile cranes, welfare facilities and site machinery to safety equipment, tools and crew transfer vessels.

Sofia's outgoing Supply Chain Plan Manager Helen Thomas provided a summary of the results of the supply chain survey that was run earlier in 2021 to find out what developers and Tier 1 and 2 suppliers can be doing to better engage with suppliers in the UK, and how they can be more transparent with the opportunities that are available. Sofia's new Supply Chain Plan Manager, Graham Wright was introduced to the webinar and also spoke about upcoming supply chain activities, with a timeline for the next 12 months.

Suppliers were able to ask questions of the team and more than 90 were posted during the hour long session. Those questions that weren't answered during the event will be followed-up in the coming days.

Next up will be Sofia's series of meet the buyer events, with different events to be held by each of the Tier 1 suppliers for the project - where they will go into more depth about the exact contract opportunities and timing and company contacts. These will be held in May, June and July with the final dates to be published on the Sofia website shortly. Suppliers registered on the Sofia portal will receive notification about the events directly and those on the NOF/Energi Coast distribution list will also receive the details.

The event was recorded by NOF/Energi Coast and will be available to view on repeat. It was also the first showing of a new Sofia film - Sofia: The Early Years - that will also be published online soon.

Caption: Slide with a summary of some of the supply chain survey results. The Sofia team will use the results to plan and tailor future events and activities.

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