THE owners of a revived wind turbine parts base have won their first contract for the site.

Offshore Structures (Britain) Limited will make 32 foundations for the Burbo Bank Extension offshore wind farm.

Bosses say a significant amount of work will be carried out at Offshore Structures’ base in Haverton Hill, near Billingham, which was previously home to Tag Energy Solutions.

Offshore, a joint venture between Danish steel construction firm Bladt Industries and German steel company EEW Special Pipe Constructions, says sections of the turbine will be produced on Teesside, with foundations made in Germany.

The work, expected to be underway by August, will be carried out for Dong Energy’s 258MW wind farm in Liverpool Bay, which it says will power 180,000 homes and will be commissioned by 2017.

Speaking exclusively to The Northern Echo last year, Jan Kjærsgaard, Bladt’s chief executive, said it wanted to create up to 350 North-East jobs and invest £30m to upgrade the plant.

He added: “The factory will mean we can hit the ground running and we do not engage in something as a company unless we believe in it.

“We will be looking for the best skills to carry out our work and there have been some good skills and workers at Tag, so we hope to be able to re-employ some of those who were there before.”

Tag was previously hailed as one of the jewels in the region’s renewable energy industry crown when it opened its plant in 2011, and bosses had hoped to employ 400 people.

Backed by £3m grants from the Department for Energy and Climate Change and regional development agency One North East, it worked on various contracts, including a delivery of foundation poles for the Humber Gateway wind farm, in East Yorkshire.

However, when work dried up, creditors called in loans, staff were paid off and the plant was mothballed.