Dong Energy awarded £1m for Grimsby wind farm base

Construction is due to begin on the Westermost Rough wind farm in early 2014

An energy company set to develop a wind farm off the coast of East Yorkshire has been awarded £1.1m to help build its operations base in Grimsby.

Dong Energy was granted planning permission last week for offices and a warehouse at the town's Royal Dock.

The facility, expected to create 40 jobs, will support the Westermost Rough offshore wind farm, which is due to be built next year.

The grant has come from the Growing the Humber Regional Growth Fund.

North East Lincolnshire Council, which runs the £30m fund along with the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), said the money would help create hundreds of direct and indirect jobs over the next few years.

Dong Energy's programme director for Westermost Rough, Duncan Clark, said: "This project is our first in Grimsby and we're looking forward to working with the council, LEP and the community as we move forward with our plans to build our base here and use the grant to further increase our investment in the area."

The wind farm will be located east of Hull in the North Sea, five miles (8km) off the coast, supplying enough energy to power about 200,000 homes.