January 18 - Following the UK government's decision to kick-start a programme of building wind farms off the UK coastline, Canadian-owned PD Ports is well-placed to serve contractors locating generating equipment and infrastructure on the North Sea's Dogg

PD Ports' Hartlepool facility is ideally located to serve the Dogger Bank, a substantial site stretching 260km in length yet lying only 100km off the North East coast. 

PD Ports' tenant JDR Cables Ltd, one of the leading players in the provision of subsea power cables, established a state of the art 100,000 sq ft facility on PD Ports land at Hartlepool in July 2009 and is in negotiation to extend this facility to cope with demand. PD Ports is also the UK home to Heerema, which has successfully serviced offshore related industries from Hartlepool for over 15 years. 

The region is already in a prime position to take advantage of the offshore wind sector, with the New and Renewable Energy Centre (Narec) working with global turbine, blade and electrical infrastructure manufacturers on their development programmes. 

In line with its intention to reduce carbon emissions, as well as achieving a 2020 deadline for generating 15 percent of energy needs through renewable sources, the British government has parcelled out the right to develop about 32 gigawatts' worth of offshore wind farms in nine development zones, including the Dogger Bank. 

The remaining zones are Norfolk, Irish Sea, Hornsea, Firth of Forth, Bristol Channel; Moray Firth, the Isle of Wight and Hastings.