The Anonymous Widower

RWE Opens ‘Grimsby Hub’ For Offshore Wind Operations And Maintenance

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

RWE officially opened its ‘Grimsby Hub’ offshore wind operations and maintenance (O&M) facility in the UK on 9 July. From the new O&M base, located at Associated British Ports’ (ABP) Port of Grimsby, RWE’s teams will maintain and operate the Triton Knoll and Sofia offshore wind farms.

These are the first two paragraphs.

The Grimsby Hub also houses RWE’s new UK Centralised Control Room (CCR), which has been set up to provide 24/7 monitoring of the company’s UK offshore wind farms and can provide services such as marine coordination, turbine operations, alarm management, high voltage monitoring and Emergency Response services with a team of twelve operatives, the developer says.

The O&M facility is already employing over 90 Full-Time Equivalents (FTEs), according to RWE, and is expected to employ around 140 RWE staff by 2027, as well as create approximately 60 new locally sourced jobs through the development of the CCR and ongoing offshore operations.

Note.

1. Does RWE’s new UK Centralised Control Room control all their UK offshore wind farms?
2. I have added them all up and there are almost 12 GW around our shores.
3. I’ve read somewhere, that RWE are the UK’s largest power generator. From these figures, that would not surprise me.

This Google Map shows the location of RWE’s facilities in Grimsby.

Note.

1. The bright red arrow at the top of the map indicates RWE Generation UK in Grimsby Docks.
2. There is another RWE location to the right of the bright red arrow.
3. There is a line of stations along the coast, which from left-to-right are Stallingborough, Healing, Great Coates, Grimsby Town, Grimsby Docks, New Clee and Cleethorpes.
4. Cleethorpes is not shown on the map.
5. Doncaster and Cleethorpes are 52.1 mile apart, which is within the range of a battery-electric Hitachi and other trains.
6. Charging would be at Doncaster, which is fully electrified and at Cleethorpes, by a short length of electrification.

This OpenRailwayMap shows the layout of and the railways around Grimsby Dock.

Note.

1. Cleethorpes station is indicated by the blue arrow, in the South-East corner of the map.
2. Cleethorpes station has four platforms, but no electrification.
3. Grimsby Docks are to the North of the railway to Cleethorpes.
4. This Wikipedia entry for Cleethorpes station, shows other railways and light railways served the area. Some were even electric.

These are a few of my thoughts on the development of railways between Sheffield and Cleethorpes.

RWE Will Be A Large Driver Of Employment In Grimsby

Earlier I wrote.

• Does RWE’s new UK Centralised Control Room control all their UK offshore wind farms?
• I have added them all up and there are almost 12 GW around our shores.
• I’ve read somewhere, that RWE are the UK’s largest power generator. From these figures, that would not surprise me.

It’s a long time, since I’ve added resources to a large project, so I asked Google AI, “How many people are needed to support a 1 GW offshore wind farm in the UK?”, and received this answer.

Direct & Indirect Support: For a large-scale project, this often breaks down into approximately 100–150 direct, permanent, high-skilled roles (technicians, engineers, management) and hundreds more in indirect, contracted, or supply chain roles (vessel crews, port operations, logistics).

Industry Average: Studies suggest that for operations and maintenance (O&M), around 50–100 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs are generated per GW of installed capacity in terms of direct, permanent staff.

Key Takeaways for a 1 GW Farm:

• Direct Technicians/Operators: ~100–200+ (working on-site, turbines, or in control rooms).
• O&M Support Services: ~300–400+ (vessel operators, port logistics, supply chain).
• Total Operations Personnel: 300–600+ people. 

Google AI appeared to have borrowed the figure from Ørsted and Hornsea 1 and 2.

So if it’s correct, there will be a total of 7,200 personnel supporting RWE’s wind farms in the UK. Even if only a third were employed in Grimsby, that is still a lot of people to accommodate and who will need to travel to work.

I also think a lot of personnel will come in by train, as the station is close to RWE’s locations.

Will Grimsby Have An Aberdeen-Sized Office-Shortage Problem?

One of the biggest problems, I was always hearing in the 1970s, was the shortage of offices in Aberdeen for the use of the oilmen.

In RWE Goes For An Additional 10 GW Of Offshore Wind In UK Waters In 2030, I talked about RWE’s plans for the future and published this table of new wind farms.

• Sofia – 1,400 MW
• Norfolk Boreas – 1380 MW
• Norfolk Vanguard East – 1380 MW
• Norfolk Vanguard West – 1380 MW
• Dogger Bank South – 3000 MW
• Awel y Môr – 500 MW
• Five Estuaries – 353 MW
• North Falls – 504 MW

Note.

1. Sofia is nearly complete.
2. Only the three Norfolk and the Dogger Bank South wind farms  are on the East side of England and suitable to be serviced from Grimsby., but they still total 7,140 MW.

Has Grimsby got the office-space for all the people needed?

Could The Cleethorpes And Liverpool Lime Street Service Be Run By Battery-Electric Rolling Stock?

The various sections of this route are as follows.

• Cleethorpes and Doncaster – No Electrification – 52.1 miles
• Doncaster and Meadowhall – No Electrification – 15.2 miles
• Meadowhall and Sheffield – No Electrification – 3.4 miles
• Sheffield and Dore & Totley  – No Electrification – 4.2 miles
• Dore & Totley and Hazel Grove – No Electrification – 29.2 miles
• Hazel Grove and Stockport – Electrification – 3.3 miles
• Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly – Electrification – 5.9 miles
• Manchester Piccadilly and Deansgate – Electrification – 0.8 miles
• Deansgate and Liverpool South Parkway -Not Electrified – 28.2 miles
• Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street – Electrified – 5.7 miles

Adding the sections together gives.

• Cleethorpes and Hazel Grove – No Electrification – 104.1 miles
• Hazel Grove and Deansgate – Electrification – 10 miles
• Deansgate and Liverpool South Parkway -Not Electrified – 28.2 miles
• Liverpool South Parkway and Liverpool Lime Street – Electrified – 5.7 miles

Note.

1. To cover the 104.1 miles to Hazel Grove battery-electric trains would probably need to leave Cleethorpes with full batteries.
2. Doncaster is a fully-electrified station and passing trains may be able to have a quick top-up.
3. In South Yorkshire Now Has Better North-South Connections, I calculated that Doncaster is a very busy station with 173 express trains per day calling at the station or one every 8.5 minutes.
4. Will trains be able to stop for a long period to charge batteries?
5. It may be prudent to electrify between Meadowhall and Sheffield, under the Midland Mainline Electrification.
6. Sheffield and Dore & Totley is shown that it will be electrified, under the Midland Mainline Electrification.
7. Do we really want to have electrification marching along the Hope Valley Line?
8. I believe that hydrogen-hybrid locomotives will be a better solution for freight trains on scenic lines like the Hope Valley, as they are zero-carbon, powerful and with a range comparable to diesel.

I believe CAF, Hitachi and Siemens have off the shelf rolling stock and factories in this country, who could build trains for the Cleethorpes and Liverpool Lime Street route.

How Would You Charge Battery-Electric Trains At Cleethorpes?

This picture shows Cleethorpes station

Note.

1. The four long platforms without  electrification.
2. The platforms have recently been refurbished.
3. The train in Platform 2 is a TransPennine Express Class 185 Siemens Desiro diesel train.

The simplest way to electrify the station would be to put up enough 25 KVAC overhead wires, so that battery-electric trains needing a charge could put up a pantograph and have a refreshing drink.

In Technology Behind Siemens Mobility’s British Battery Trains Hits The Tracks, I wrote about Siemens Rail Charging Converter.

This is a visualisation of a Siemens Rail Charging Converter in action.

Note.

1. The track is electrified with standard 25 KVAC overhead electrification.
2. The train is a standard Siemens electric or battery-electric train.
3. Siemens Rail Charging Converter, which is the shed in the compound on the left is providing the electricity to energise the catenary.
4. I suspect, it could power third rail electrification, if the Office of Rail and Road ever allowed it to be still installed.
5. The Siemens Rail Charging Converter does have one piece of magic in the shed. I suspect it uses a battery or a large capacitor to help power the electrification, as it can be powered from any typical domestic grid supply.
6. I also wonder, if it has safety devices that cut the power outside the shed if track workers or intruders are detected, where they shouldn’t be?
7. It could even cut the power, when trains are not running to save power and increase safety.

This looks to me, that a Siemens Rail Charging Converter could be a superb example of out-of-the-box thinking.

Could The Cleethorpes And Barton-on-Humber Service Be Run By Battery-Electric Rolling Stock?

This OpenRailwayMap shows the railways of North-East Lincolnshire.

Note.

1. Cleethorpes is in the South-East Corner of the map.
2. Barton-on-Humber is in the North-West corner of the map and marked by a blue-arrow.
3. Stations from South to North would be New Clee, Grimsby Docks, Grimsby Town, Great Coates, Healing, Stallingborough, Habrough, Ulceby, Thornton Abbey, Goxhill, New Holland and Barrow Haven.
4. The line is double track.
5. Cleethorpes and Barton-on-Humber is just 22.8 miles.
6. A round trip would be under fifty miles, which would be well within range of a full-charge at one end.
7. Service is one train per two hours (tp2h), which would only need a single train, shuttling between Cleethorpes and Barton-on-Humber.
8. Two trains could provide an hourly service.

I would expect, that well-designed, solid and reliable German engineering could build a Siemens’ Rail Charging Connector that could charge four trains per hour (tph) at Cleethorpes station.

At present services are.

• TransPennineExpress – 1 tph to Liverpool Lime Street.
• East Midlands Railway – 1 tp2h to Barton-on-Humber
• East Midlands Railway – 1 tp2h to Matlock via Lincoln and Nottingham
• Northern Trains – 1 train per day (tpd) Sheffield via Brigg.

That is probably only about two tph.

Could The Cleethorpes And Sheffield Service Be Run By Battery-Electric Rolling Stock?

This is a description of the current Cleethorpes and Sheffield service.

• It is run by Northern Trains.
• The morning train leaves Sheffield at 09:54 and arrives in Cleethorpes at 11:40.
• The afternoon train leaves Cleethorpes at 13:20 and arrives in Sheffield at 15:10.
• The train is a Class 150 diesel train, which is a bit of a Joan Collins of a train – Of a certain age, but still scrubs up extremely well!
• Intermediate stations are Worksop, Retford, Gainsborough Central, Kirton Lindsey, Brigg, Barnetby and Grimsby Town
• The route length is 71.6 miles
• Trains take about 45-50 minutes.

It is also a parliamentary train.

The Wikipedia entry for parliamentary train gives this description of the Cleethorpes and Sheffield service.

Via Kirton Lindsey & Brigg. Became a parliamentary service when weekday services were withdrawn in 1993. Regular trains have operated between Gainsborough and Sheffield for most timetable periods since. Suspended January 2022 by Northern, who cited COVID-19 and staffing issues , but the service was reinstated in December 2022. Changed in May 2023 to be one return journey on weekdays only.

In the 1950s and 1960s I lived in Felixstowe part of the time and in the 1970s and 1980s I lived near Woodbridge and I observed first hand the development of the Port of Felixstowe and the effects it had on the surrounding countryside.

The development of the Port of Felixstowe, has brought the following.

• Improved roads and railways.
• Ipswich is now an hour from London by train.
• Ipswich is now a University town.
• New housing and other developments, both in Ipswich and Felixstowe and the surrounding countryside.
• Employment also has increased considerably, both in the Port and in surrounding towns.
• Ipswich’s football team is very much respected all over Europe and has won the English top division, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup.

When you consider the jobs that RWE could create in the Port of Grimsby, I believe that this could have similar effects in Grimsby and Cleethorpes, as the Port of Felixstowe had in East Suffolk.

Already, the following are being talked about.

• A direct rail link between Cleethorpes and Grimsby to London.
• Battery-electric trains between Cleethorpes and Grimsby and Doncaster, Manchester and Liverpool Lime Street.

I believe that an improved rail link between Cleethorpes and Sheffield could be the catalyst for much needed housing along the route, which would be to the benefit of Cleethorpres, Grimsby, Sheffield and all the intermediate towns and villages on the route.

and the affects this will have on the countryside around the town, I believe that a strong case can be made out for a more frequent service between Cleethorpes and Sheffield.

July 16, 2025 Posted by AnonW | Artificial Intelligence, Design, Energy, Sport, Transport/Travel | ABP, Ørsted, Barton Line, Battery-Electric Trains, Class 185 Train, Cleethorpes Station, Development, Dore and Totley Station, East Midlands Railway, Football, Google AI, Grimsby, Grimsby Town, Hitachi Intercity Battery Train, Hope Valley Line, Housing, Innovation, Ipswich Town, Lincoln Station, Liverpool Lime Street Station, Matlock Station, Midland Main Line, Midland Main Line Electrification, North Sea Oil And Gas, Northern Trains, Nottingham Station, Office Of Rail And Road, Offshore Wind Power, Port of Felixstowe, Port Of Grimsby, RWE, RWE Grimsby Hub, Sheffield Station, Siemens Desiro, Siemens' Rail Charging Converter, Sofia Wind Farm, Triton Knoll Wind Farm, UK Port Development, University Of Suffolk, Wind Power | 1 Comment