The very best of green business has been celebrated as the winners of the 2019 Humber Renewables Awards were crowned.
The awards, which shone a light on the exceptional work being carried out by green companies across both banks of the Humber, were held at the Country Park Inn, on Thursday evening.
A total of nine awards, including the prestigious Humber Renewables Champion, were presented on the night, with businesses both large and small recognised.
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Judges faced a gruelling task scrutinising the entries, in what was a highly competitive year to match the Humber’s burgeoning industry.
Mark O’Reilly, head judge and chairman and chief executive of Team Humber Marine Alliance, said: "We have seen over the years the projects are bigger and better than they were, and we can almost take it for granted that we have people working on a large scale wind farm or major solar installation.
“It hasn’t always been that way, and we wouldn’t be talking about it a few years ago.
“Now, even in the small business category, we have companies working here and exporting knowledge abroad, which is great.”
The Humber has gained an enviable reputation as being the 海角视频’s Energy Estuary, and is at the forefront of the country’s zero-carbon ambitions.
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From offshore wind and solar power to pioneering carbon capture technology, the region is making huge strides towards hitting its 2040 target of removing all carbon dioxide from its emissions.
The winners of the 2019 Humber Renewables Awards are:
Humber Renewables Small Business of the Year
Winner: Specialist Marine Consultants
Specialist Marine Consultants Ltd delivers a wide range of services to the offshore energy sector, with more than 90 per cent of its near-£10m turnover coming from renewables.
The business has worked on offshore wind projects globally, carrying out work across Europe, the USA, China and Taiwan.
Locally, it has worked on Humber Gateway, Race Bank and both Hornsea developments. SMC was last year awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade for its offshore work.
Best Renewable Energy Project or Installation
Category sponsor: Xceco
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Winner: East Coast Hub, by Hobson & Porter
Hull-based construction firm Hobson & Porter recently completed the multi-million-pound operations and maintenance centre for Orsted.
Hobson & Porter extended the existing operations centre at Grimsby’s Royal Docks, creating a world-class facility for the operations and maintenance of offshore wind farms.
The East Coast Hub will support Orsted’s projects in the North Sea, including the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project Two.
Excellence in Renewable Skills and Training
Category sponsor: James Fisher Marine Services
Winner: Grimsby Institute
The Grimsby Institute and its partners are now well into the second intake of its Maintenance Operations Engineering Technician apprenticeship programme.
This is a new government standard for technical apprenticeships, and incorporates electrical, mechanical and instrumentation engineers, along with wind turbine maintenance technicians.
The MOET programme presents opportunities for candidates and employers alike, and is therefore sought after by people wishing to follow the career path.
Renewables Education
Category sponsor: Hull College Group
Winner: Aura
The Aura Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT), based at the University of Hull, will see a batch of PhD students arrive in Hull in September, to support the region’s enormous renewable energy ambitions.
The CDT research will be focused on offshore wind and the low-carbon economy, and integrate engineering and the environment.
It will provide the opportunity to develop and integrate practical examples in taught courses across the first year with industry-led and challenge-led projects, followed by three years of focused doctoral research.
Green Innovation Award
Winner: Drax
Drax has just brought forward a world-first Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage pilot project as it seeks to make what was once a coal-fed power station the world’s first negative emissions mass generator.
Four of the six generating units now run on biomass, delivering carbon savings of more than 80 per cent in Europe’s biggest decarbonisation project.
The BECCS project is seen as having clear potential to become the anchor in a Humber-wide zero carbon economy, fed from Immingham and Hull, with emissions returned beneath the North Sea.
Humber Renewables Medium / Large Business of the Year
Winner: James Fisher Marine Services
The FTSE 250 company, established for more than 170 years, has embraced offshore wind and the Humber, recently opening a large base on Port of Grimsby East and winning a major contract with the latest farm developer, Innogy, to provide site clearance off the Lincolnshire coast for boulders and unexploded ordnance across 145 sq. km.
The new base will become a hub of activity for an extended season of activity.
Engaging the Community
Category sponsor: Spencer Group
Winner: Grimsby Renewables Partnership
GRP brings together key stakeholders in the public and private sector, providing a conduit for local businesses, developers and top tier conduits.
From a core group of local and port authority and early pioneers, it now has a 100-plus membership.
Its 2019 conference attracted 340 people, gaining national media coverage while hosting a very popular meet the buyer event for Innogy’s Triton Knoll offshore wind farm. It also brought Grimsby, and the Humber, DocksSocks.
Women in Manufacturing and Engineering
Category sponsor: Innogy
Winner: Sophie Marsden
Dedication, maturity and commitment has been recognised in the 22-year-old who joined GEV four years ago.
From administration apprentice she was promoted to the accounts team, and quickly after to project co-ordination manager, where she has excelled.
Sophie has also completed the Cranfield University Improvement Project Performance Course and her auditing training and AAT qualifications, during GEV’s busiest year to date, managing disbursements of the 200 plus field workforce.
Humber Renewables Champion
Winner: Emma Toulson
Full citation: "There are very few people in the 海角视频, let alone the Humber, who have a more rounded knowledge of the offshore wind sector than the 2019 Humber Renewables Champion.
This year’s winner has laid much of the groundwork for where the Energy Estuary is today, working across the public and private sector to deliver projects, strategies and - more recently - being a key contributor in the recently published Offshore Wind Sector Deal.
Educated just up the road at University of Hull, physical geography was read and has helped her to shape the vision of the Humber’s new economic landscape.
Working for North East Lincolnshire Council and Humber Local Enterprise Partnership, she provided frontline economic development in aid of the critical and rapidly expanding energy sector. It was a dual role that fused infrastructure, business support, skills development and inward investment.
She developed strong relations with the companies and organisations that we are proud to celebrate here, working extensively around these banks, and becoming a familiar face in London too.
Two years ago she joined the world’s leading offshore wind developer, Orsted, initially in Grimsby but now as lead stakeholder for the 海角视频. She champions women in industry, the Humber nationally and offshore wind globally.
From her own time as secretariat to the GRP - already recognised this evening – to advising in Westminster, when people speak of Emma Toulson, her deep knowledge, enthusiasm and a can-do attitude runs through the superlatives you hear.
Her own colleagues describe her as a ‘real Humber Renewables Champion,’ well tonight we wholeheartedly endorse it."