WINDLOGIX: Windlogix Launches as Global Renewables Services Group

A new British platform is set to take the renewables industry by storm as it launches with a turnkey service portfolio, including global best-practice expertise, providing OEMs, operators, and the wider industry with an impressive offering that continues to grow.

Windlogix – made up of industry leaders Windhoist and Stowen, and newly formed Hexis – is aiming to deliver first class services across the international energy sector while upskilling the local workforce of the future.

Introduced in March, the integration of the three businesses will allow for initial organic growth through synergies, before further businesses will be added to the group to fuel a thriving industry operator.

CEO Euan Lockhart tells Energy Focus that preparation for the launch began two years ago with initial investment into Windhoist.

“The planning started back in August 2019 when the acquisition of Windhoist was made. We already had a holding company brand in the background when Star Capital made the investment in Windhoist,” he says. “We had some work to do professionalising Windhoist, and since August 2019 we’ve put about £27 million into the business with new people, assets, and digitalisation. Additionally, we’ve grown the group infrastructure in terms of financial, commercial, HSEQ, HR and IT, with a view to running a full services platform.”

With the brand out in the market, the goal is to retain the equity and identity in each company, allowing these successful individual businesses to continue assisting clients with top quality service.

“It is very important to us that when we are bringing owner-managed businesses into the group, we are investing in people that have already grown businesses to a certain level and are looking for additional support and investment to take those businesses to the next stage,” says Lockhart.

The training division of Windhoist has been integrated into Hexis and the business is able to provide some of the most exclusive and comprehensive courses in the market, building an offshore workforce of the future.

“We foresee the need for a massive number of people to come into this industry over the next three to five years and intend to run Hexis as a training business that delivers the right quality of people that we need in our business and in the sector. As we add additional brands onto the Windlogix platform, we have the training capabilities to provide that facility to new businesses as well,” comments Lockhart.

From dedicated centres in Irvine and Lowestoft, training will be made available to the entire industry including clients such as Siemens Gamesa, Nordex, and windfarm operators.

CRADLE TO GRAVE

Windlogix provides a cradle-to-grave portfolio for energy generators operating on- and offshore. Together, the group of companies represent one of the largest and most experienced providers of turbine services available anywhere in the world.  

With more than 500 people in the group, across 40 locations, Windlogix has the ability to work globally and can support international clients with surety.

“The initial focus will be around the UK, Europe, and Taiwan and we are active in those markets at the moment. In addition, we do have the ambition and facility to invest in businesses with a global reach.

“We have registered the businesses in the USA and we have an entity set up in Taiwan, so we want to work with the global wind sector. We are seeing a lot of pulls by clients to go to Latin America and other regions. We have to decide which is the best area for us to invest resources and finances,” explains Lockhart.

Bringing Stowen and Hexis to the group was a significant step on the journey. Complementing Windhoist’s abilities of crane and installation services, Stowen brings pre-construction services for transition pieces, commissioning, inspection, and maintenance. Growth in the offshore sector is a key focus for Windlogix, and future additions to the platform will represent this.

Discussions are ongoing in various stages, with Lockhart confirming potential acquisitions and opportunities are being reviewed on a weekly basis.

WINDS OF CHANGE

Windlogix is aiming to create a vibrant culture that is centred around learning and providing unparalleled customer service.

“With Windlogix, it’s very much about ownership, teamwork, honesty, and growth – we’ve been very clear about our core values,” says Lockhart. “This is a sector that is going to grow hugely over the next 10-15 years, so we need to have a very clear purpose which is growing through renewable technology, and reaching out to the next generation that we are a cool place to work. Our strap line is that ‘we do cool things in extreme places’ – we work from well inside the artic circle down to South Africa supporting a sustainable energy infrastructure.

“In terms of culture with the integration of Stowen, we were very clear that it would be a light touch,” he adds. “In addition to completing a commercial review of the business, we would provide a range of group services which has included incorporating everything into one financial platform. We are there to support them in what they do in terms of growth and sales and driving that business forward – we are not there to interfere, we want to keep the culture of the brands that we bring in while having a synergy across the group. With Stowen, that has worked well over the first six months. The management team there run the business and are invested.”

In the future, this successful culture roll out will include further integration of people through the different companies. People will be encouraged to make the most of opportunities that exist across the group.

“We want people in Windhoist to be able to go and work offshore; we want people from Stowen or Hexis to be able to work in Windhoist and give people a longer-term career in the sector,” states Lockhart.

GROWING GROUP

Windhoist and its offerings are widely regarded by industry players as some of the best available. The addition of Stowen and the creation of Hexis – different businesses altogether – make for a group with a multifaceted solution for the industry. Lockhart explains more about developments coming from these exciting young companies.

“The management team in Stowen are innovative. It was established in 2014 as an oil and gas inspection business. The founders, Matt Owen and Colin Stewart, came from that environment and they did exceptionally well in picking up clients.”

In 2017, the pair saw the opportunity to grow in renewable energy and they have built the capability to undertake stat inspections, maintenance on offshore cranes, coatings, remedials, and non-destructive testing and welding.

“We have invested in their future growth,” says Lockhart. “The opportunity they have around East Anglia, and right up the UK east coast in huge. They are looking to build four hubs up the east coast of the UK. They are in Great Yarmouth, they will look for something around the Grimsby/Hull area, then Newcastle/Teesside, and then a location in Scotland, between Dundee and Aberdeen. The first in Grimsby is almost there.”

Hexis will become a powerful force in the industry, helping Windlogix and others tap talent for a sector that sorely needs it. “There is a huge opportunity for training, not just down the east of the UK but globally,” confirms Lockhart.

Currently, the business is run from a state-of-the-art centre at Lowestoft college, which is purpose built for technical training.

“We get use of the training facilities and we have put cranes in there for people to train on. We have just got Hexis approved to do stat inspection Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB) courses – the first in the UK. We have completed the trial course and we now need to get the operators to back that and confirm that they want everyone who does a stat inspection on one of their facilities to have a certification – we are right at the forefront of that.

“We brought Hexis on board with the realisation that we are doing GWO training across various scopes in Irvine but we can do that on both sides as well as swapping the ECITB offering – it works extremely well for us. It is now for us to take all this to the next level,” explains Lockhart.

THRIVING SECTOR  

The Windlogix brand launch comes at a great time for the wind industry in the UK and globally. Construction of the world’s largest offshore wind farms is nearing finalisation in the UK North Sea, and major new projects are being announced in waters around Europe and the USA. The power of wind and its attributes compared to fossil fuel power generation are well-documented. Windhoist is a robust and recognised business, and as more companies and more countries make climate commitments, the industry is deep in opportunity. With oil prices on an upward trajectory once again, interest in the renewables space has been further stoked, and Windlogix stands ready to serve.

“There is so much interest in the whole renewables sector and it’s not just because of oil price volatility. Most of the oil and gas majors are or are seeking to pivot into the renewables space, and when you get involvement from these types of companies, you get a lot of professionalism,” suggests Lockhart.

In 2021, the UK government announced plans to achieve net zero emission status by 2050. With on- and offshore activity scaling quickly, major innovation is coming through the renewable sector, but it is important that pioneering businesses are encouraged and protected.

“The sector was always going to grow but what has happened in the UK has pushed that on faster. ScotWind remains five years down the track and a lot of provision and planning has to go into it before anything comes to fruition. Businesses like us are focussed on the next 12 months and we need help from the government to make sure that we get support for the sector and good traction with OEMs and operators to develop local talent. Windhoist and Stowen see a lot of competition in the wind sector, and overseas companies enter the UK market with foreign labour which is lower cost to deploy on UK projects. Whilst competition is healthy, the wind sector needs to generate returns that can create a sustainable highly-skilled workforce for the future,” states Lockhart.

It remains vital that companies can see ROI when planning strategy around project roll out. Capital expenditure into plant for Windhoist can exceed €6 million per asset and must be certain about longevity when making these investments. “Right now,” says Lockhart “it is tough as there is a really stretched marketplace. For us, the future is all about being involved in the full 25-year lifecycle and if you can increase opportunity across a greater platform then you are in a really good position for the future.”

Clearly, Windlogix is building for a long-term future in the renewable space. An aggressive acquisition strategy, upskilling people, innovating on site, providing world-class service, and assisting in the managed transition of the energy mix to protect the environment. Lockhart is excited about the future and reiterates that further growth through acquisition will be deliberate, to add capability to the platform, while working with people who want to get into this burgeoning industry.

“We are different from other renewable platforms out there as we really want to provide complementary services. Anything we bring into the group has to have logic to it,” he says. “We want more exposure to potential clients, building stronger relations, more service offerings, better value propositions for our customers at various levels. First and foremost, it’s about further strengthening the strong HSEQ ethos in the sector, and we have seen great improvements in this in Windhoist in the past year. Safety has to be the primary goal that anyone thinks about. Operators, OEMs, and service companies are now more focussed than ever on the safety issue as they know their value comes from their people.

“We are keen on the idea of apprenticeship schemes alongside OEMs. Today, it’s about getting people out to work as soon as possible – OEMs want turbines up as quick as possible and don’t want trainees on the jobs but if we don’t bring trainees into the sector, how will we fuel the workforce of the future? We would love to sponsor apprenticeships with OEMs and we could do that with Stowen.”

Having recently completed highly technical and extremely successful work on the Hornsea Two project through Windhoist, Windlogix adds another shining example of its capability to the portfolio. With ongoing projects across Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and more, the group is busy and will certainly be one to watch as the sector booms.

Lockhart finishes by describing the importance of the launch of Windlogix as “a visible demonstration of our steadfast commitment to help accelerate the global transition to renewable energies.”

Currently, the position of Windlogix is clear: Leading the industry in terms of personnel development and high-quality, full-lifecycle solutions for wind farm operators. The group can reduce client risk, increase up-time and efficiency, and simplify ownership and operation of wind farms on- and offshore.