Penryn-based offshore engineer, MintMech, celebrates its sixth anniversary this year. Now, as Cornwall is set to become a renewable energy hub, the company looks at the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Most of the team at MintMech have spent years working offshore on projects ranging from building bridges and installing offshore wind turbines to analysing the seabed a mile underwater. After working with some of the industry’s biggest firms and travelling the world, directors Laurie Thornton and Jack Berryman brought their expertise back to Cornwall.
MintMech has grown to a team of 12 engineers by combining its solid technical foundation and engineering expertise with a can-do, practical and operationally aware ethos.
“Our clients appreciate our culture and approachable nature as well as the quality of our engineering work,” says engineer and director, Jack Berryman. “I’m so proud of our team. Engineering isn’t all numbers; people are at the heart of it and we’re always on the look out for engineers who hold the same values.
“It’s always fascinating to work on the unique and complicated challenges that crop up on an offshore project,” Berryman continues. “Solving them often requires innovative combinations of tried and tested technology.”
From getting crew aboard a vessel safely in rough weather to delicately manipulating tools thousands of meters below the surface, MintMech has created several inventive solutions to offshore exploration and marine construction.
“The projects we’ve worked on with clients are often multi-million-pound developments,” says geologist and commercial manager, Theo Cleave. “Designers need to know exactly what’s down there and what the seafloor is like. I remember once we experienced a seven-point-something magnitude earthquake while we were offshore in Japan. It’s exciting work.”
The Government aims to quadruple offshore wind in the next five years and MintMech wants to help achieve that, potentially making Cornwall the offshore wind capital of the UK.
“If the country is going reach its green energy targets, it needs reliable technology,” says director, Laurie Thornton. “Delays are expensive — even an hour of downtime can cost companies thousands of pounds — so there’s no room for error. Our designs take the risk out of marine construction projects, ensuring they run smoothly.”
“Cornwall became the first large rural authority to declare a climate emergency and a 2030 carbon zero target in 2019,” said Jayne Kirkham, MP for Truro and Falmouth, in a video recorded outside MintMech’s office. “With our plentiful stock of wind, sun and geothermal energy, Cornwall should be at the heart of renewables in the UK.”
During the Clean Energy Superpower Mission debate in July this year, Kirkham asked if the Government would help Cornwall “plug into the vast opportunities opened up by floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea”.
Secretary of State Ed Miliband replied, “one of the decisions on my desk will be how we make sure that we advance floating wind technology and that we manufacture it in the UK.”
Labour has pledged to make the UK electricity system carbon-neutral by 2030, with 50 GW coming from offshore wind and an additional 5 GW from floating offshore wind. Companies like MintMech will be key in ensuring this target is met through their provision of marine engineering expertise and technology.
MintMech specialises in the design, manufacture and operation of geotechnical drilling, large diameter drilling, marine construction and offshore handling equipment. MintMech is based at Jubilee Wharf, Penryn, for more information visit www.MintMech.com.
