German steel pipe manufacturer EEW Group could create as many as 150 jobs in the next year after revealing plans to open a Scottish facility to service the UK’s growing offshore renewables industry.
The group, headquartered in Erndtebrueck in the industrial North Rhine-Westphalia region, is planning to plough €25m (£23m) to €30m (£27m) into the project.
EEW has yet to finalise its plans but is looking at a site with an area of 10 to 12 hectares with 150 employees when fully operational.
The site’s main function will be the manufacture of steel pipes that can be used to create the foundations for wind farms.
The group already has other facilities at Rostock on the Baltic Sea and in Erndtebrueck as well as in Malaysia, Korea and Brazil supported by a worldwide network of sales offices.
The company is working with inward investment group Scottish Development International on the plans.
The EEW Group has over 70 years’ experience in the manufacture of steel products and in the past few years has diversified into work for the renewables industry after involvement with sectors such as offshore oil and gas and steel construction.
The yearly capacity of all pipe mills in the group exceeds 400,000 tons.
Developers are increasingly looking at offshore wind farms due to the pitfalls of planning permission for onshore sites.
