A £30million contract has been awarded for the supply of offshore cables for the Galloper wind farm project off the Suffolk coast.

JDR has been sub-contracted by the project’s array cable installation contractor VBMS (UK) Ltd as part of an overall deal worth around £100m.

The cables will be manufactured during 2016 in Hartlepool where JDR has a workforce of more than 180.

Galloper is an extension of the existing and fully operational Greater Gabbard wind farm. Construction work is expected to start later this year.

Project director Toby Edmonds said: “To date Galloper has invested £150m on development, of which the majority has been spent with UK based suppliers from as far afield as Aberdeen, Peterborough, Manchester and Cardiff.”

Around 700 jobs are expted to be created during construction of the wind farm, and 92 long-term jobs to be established once it is operational.

David Currie, chief executive at JDR, said: “We are extremely proud to have been appointed to supply the array cables for the Galloper Offshore Wind Farm.

“Our experience and expertise in the renewables industry has grown considerably in recent years including the supply of cables for Galloper’s sister wind farm Greater Gabbard.”

He added: “Awards such as Galloper form the basis of our continued investment in talent - in both developing our current workforce as well as our ongoing support of the JDR apprenticeship and graduate programmes.”

Arno van Poppel, chief executive of VBMS, added: “We are very pleased to have signed this contract for Galloper Wind Farm Ltd.

“Our valuable experience with similar projects such as Nordsee Ost for our client RWE Innogy, will enable us to use our technology and expertise in order to successfully deliver this prestigious project. In order to anticipate the growing potential for VBMS in the UK, we are expanding our activities and local presence.”

Average annual generation from the Galloper wind farm is expected to be equivalent to the needs of around 336,000 average UK households.

The project is owned by RWE Innogy UK which earlier this year inaugurated the world’s second largest offshore wind farm, Gwynt y Môr, off the coast of north Wales.