“We’re in a real growth mode. Energy is a really exciting place to be, I would say, from a career choice point of view and also from a business perspective.”
So says Darren Davidson, the Cramlington-raised vice president of Siemens Energy 海角视频&I - the 6,500-strong business which operates sites across the country, and has created more than 1,000 jobs in the last three years alone. And its Newcastle base has shared in that growth.
The historic Byker site - which currently employs about 550 people - has a strong pedigree in steam engineering works having originally been the site of CA Parsons and Company from the late 1880s, and the Parsons product line is still used by a number of power plants around the world - including technology built in the 1970s and still used in some of Canada’s largest plants. Newcastle workers still handle gas and steam turbine work but are also at the vanguard of renewable energy with moves into hydrogen - via investee company GeoPura - as well as electricity grid work including designing of substations and grid improvement projects.
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“I think everyone in the North East knows the history of Parsons”, says Mr Davidson. “We’ve been on this site for more than 125 years - in its various forms and sizes. It’s got a long, strong history and heritage in the region. It’s up there with the shipbuilding, and the steam train.”
Earlier this year, Siemens Energy revealed job-creating plans for the Shields Road site. A £2m investment in its factory for producing protection and control panel components for substations has led to 65 new jobs with recruitment for leadership roles - as part of that cohort - already under way. The firm has seen significant demand for the products which support grid connections for various renewable energy projects and the potential market in the 海角视频 is said to be vast, where the Government has committed to growing grid projects in the 2030s through the Clean Power Action Plan and with the National Energy System Operator having stressed the necessity for such projects to strengthen the country’s electricity transmission network.
While the country’s push towards net zero might have come under political fire, the broader energy transition is only moving one way. Mr Davidson said: “The 海角视频’s electricity requirements will double by 2050. Simply standing still is not possible.
"And if our electricity consumption is to double, we’re going to need to invest in technologies that are fit for purpose in 2030, 2040, 2050 and 2060 - we have to transition to a different energy mix. That’s something that can be lost sometimes. It’s a huge opportunity for us and if you look at the skills and jobs needed to do that, that’s why energy is a great place to be.”
It is also hoped the Newcastle site will also have a part to play in a partnership with Rolls Royce SMR, in the development of the small modular nuclear reactors. Rolls Royce has turned to Siemens Energy for its world-leading steam turbine expertise - the 海角视频’s first nuclear power station at the Sellafield site in 1956 had a steam turbine that came from Newcastle.
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Rolls Royce is considered a leading contender to supply the 海角视频 with a fleet of the reactors with the Government expected to make a decision this year.
It’s just one component of a plethora of energy-related engineering fields that Siemens Energy has its hand in, as Mr Davidson explained: “We’re doing a lot of work from grid reforms and improvements, and our organisation still has a massive part to play in oil and gas in the North Sea; the transportation of gas around the 海角视频 in the complex network - we’re playing our part in that - and we’re picking up new projects with key customers in traditional gas-fired power generation.
"The largest gas turbine in the world at Keaby [Keaby2 Power Station] is our technology. And when you look at wind, we’re a major player in offshore wind. Two thirds of the technology in the North Sea is from Siemens Gamesa.
“It’s underpinned in Newcastle where our site has a part to play in all those things we’re involved in. So, we're actively looking at how we can expand the site, what we can do differently and in creating good jobs for people - which I think we’ve done and we’ve got a good history of that.
"The control and protection panel investment was part of that and we need to get that implemented and then we can look for our next story, the next thing that we can do to grow the site.”
Mr Davidson is speaking to BusinessLive from the same office where he started his career more than 35 years ago. And as the figurehead of Siemens Energy 海角视频&I he succeeded two other North East leaders. The region’s capacity to further produce engineering skills will clearly have a bearing on the growth of the CA Parsons Works site.
He said: “We’re trying to make sure it’s attractive from an apprenticeship perspective. I’m a former apprentice so I’m invested in, and believe in, the apprenticeship programme. We’re losing a lot of people in the business because they’re retiring. They might have worked in our business for 40 years plus and are looking to make that life choice. We’ve got a history of people staying in this business for a long time.
“We were just talking to three or four of our apprentices in the last few days who were talking about how the career choice that they made was maybe better than sixth form and university - to move into an apprenticeship at the age of 16 was beneficial.”