NORTH Essex could be set for millions of pounds of investment from major Chinese wind energy companies.

A delegation of investors and leading wind farm equipment manufacturers toured Harwich International Port yesterday. The visit, organised by Essex County Council’s International Trade Team, included representatives from the Nantong Hongbo wind power equipment company and Jiangsu Tongguang photoelectron company.

Both businesses are from Jiangsu province, focal point for the Chinese offshore wind energy industry.

The delegation also included representatives of the Nantong Bureau of Commerce.

Kevin Bentley, Essex County Council’s cabinet member for economic development, said: “This visit could lead to the creation of hundreds of jobs, directly and indirectly, which could boost the county’s economy.”

Tendring Council leader Neil Stock said: “It was a great chance to show the fantastic opportunities in Tendring for investment in the renewable energy sector.

“I hope they invest in Harwich as it needs the investment and the creation of skilled jobs.

“The scale of this investment is hundreds of millions of pounds, and we are talking about building factories, we could see dualling of the A120 get off the ground and Bathside Bay finally built.’’ Darren Taylor, general manager of Harwich International Port, said the company was looking at using the planned 250-acre Bathside Bay container terminal as a base for wind farm construction.

He said: “We have permission to develop it as a container terminal.

“The key attribute of a windport is very large areas of space for equipment lay-down.

“The port is talking to manufactures and developers about the opportunity to use this area going forward.

“Bathside Bay, if developed, would be capable of handling all aspects of offshore wind development for phase three wind farms.”

Delegation leader Huang Hui Xia said: “I hope we can exchange ideas with Essex County Council and local enterprises about development of wind power in Harwich.

“It was a great pleasure to be here and it is going to be a good opportunity for the future.”