JDR Cables has announced plans to open a new subsea cable manufacturing facility near Blyth, Northumberland. The 69,000 sqm facility will occupy the site of a former coal-fired power station.
Subject to final agreements, construction is expected to begin in 2022 and the facility will open in 2024, creating 170 high-quality local jobs on completion and safeguarding 270 jobs at JDR’s existing facilities in Hartlepool and Littleport.
The initial project investment is estimated at £130M, which will be part-funded by a grant from the BEIS Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Support scheme. JDR and its parent TFK plan to raise the remaining funding with support from financial institutions and UK Export Finance.
JDR plans to expand its product portfolio to supply the global renewable energy market, adding high voltage export and long length array cables to its existing capabilities. The new facility will be the only facility in the UK capable of full start-to-finish manufacturing of high voltage subsea cables for offshore wind farms, include a new catenary continuous vulcanisation (CCV) line.
Tony Quinn, Chair of Energi Coast – the North East England’s Offshore Wind Supply Chain Cluster, adds: “We’re delighted that JDR has selected Cambois, near Blyth, for such a strategically important investment. It will make a significant contribution toward the development of an offshore wind industrial cluster in the North East, strengthening an already well established supply chain and creating hundreds of high value jobs.”