MEMBER NEWS: North Star bolsters leadership team with first renewables director

June 15, 2021
MEMBER NEWS: North Star bolsters leadership team with first renewables director

Aberdeen headquartered North Star Renewables has created a new permanent senior role for offshore wind consultant Andrew Duncan to lead the UK firm’s expansion in offshore wind and increase its foothold in other green offshore energy industries.

Mr Duncan has taken up the role of renewables director having worked with North Star in an advisory capacity since 2019. He was instrumental in helping the business to secure its first offshore wind contract, the recently announced £270 million award with Dogger Bank Wind Farm to deliver three-state-of-the-art service offshore vessels (SOVs) for three 10-year charters. He is based at the company’s new Port of Tyne facility.

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Mr Duncan has a strong track record of successful business development and bringing offshore wind vessels to market including the world’s first wind turbine installation vessel, The Resolution, as well as crew transfer vessel concepts and operations. He also worked at RenewableUK for more than a year supporting its supply chain members.

Mr Duncan said: “It is a great honour to join North Star as a full-time member of the team and to see the sister Dogger Bank SOV builds all the way through. Every aspect of the vessel design has been to ensure comfort, performance and environmental credentials where possible using the best available technologies to also futureproof them. The success of this work has positioned the business centre stage in the offshore wind arena and it’s my intention to leverage this and grow our SOV fleet to support clients’ objectives in the UK and beyond, as well as seeking out new opportunities across the other offshore renewable industries.”

Reporting directly to CEO Matthew Gordon, Mr Duncan will work closely with the firm’s renewables division across its three locations in Aberdeen, Newcastle and Lowestoft. North Star has an existing 1,400 strong workforce and 130 new full-time roles are being created for the lifetime of the Dogger Bank contract.

North Star chief executive Matthew Gordon added: “The business is experiencing transformational growth following the Dogger Bank award win and with Andrew secured at the helm of the renewables team, our ambitions to capitalise on this for further growth are well on track.

“When Andrew joined us as a consultant in 2019 to deliver our new SOV fleet concept consultation paper and roadmap to help secure the contract, it very quickly became apparent that he shares our passion and vision to support the offshore workforce with sustainable, safe and reliable vessels. His vast experience and strong network will ensure all our SOV designs offer superior logistics and are well equipped with the latest technologies to enhance safety and energy efficiencies.”

North Star Renewables is part of North Star Group, which also comprises North Star Shipping and Boston Putford. As well as providing continuous infrastructure support services across more than 50 UK Continental Shelf installations, the Group also provides vessel maintenance and service capabilities.

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AREG has played an important role in the growth of Scotland’s renewable energy sector, engaging the supply chain and developing the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre. However, we are only at the very beginning of the transition that AREG was established to both lead and support so there are still opportunities for companies to get into the constantly evolving renewables supply chain. We look forward to continuing our work together as renewables builds on its place as Scotland’s main source of power, and as we seek to deliver real change in the crucial areas of heat and transport.

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