British-founded energy firm Siemens is opening a new renewable engineering centre in Manchester that will employ 340 people.

The Renewable Energy Engineering Centre will cater for the growing number of energy projects like offshore wind that require specialist kit to reduce the amount of power lost in transit.

John Willcock, director of Major Projects for Siemens Transmission and Distribution Ltd said: “The UK’s Round 3 offshore wind farms will be sited much further out to sea than previous developments and so will need HVDC technology to overcome the power losses that occur when bringing electricity ashore over longer distances.”

Siemens says it is looking to recruit electrical and power engineering graduates and post-graduates as well as from the existing workforce in the UK and Europe.

Siemens already has a wide Research & Development portfolio in the UK including centres at Keele and Sheffield Universities, recently also announcing its role as the HVDC contractor for the BritNed project, the first-ever interconnector between the Netherlands and the UK.