AN offshore wind farm company is close to landing a multi-million pound deal to install 30 wind turbines off the coast of Cumbria.

Marine Projects International (MPI), based in Middlesbrough, is hoping to be awarded the contract, thought to be worth between £14m and £20m, in the next few weeks.

MPI, formerly Mayflower Energy, is competing for the contract to install the wind farm off the coast of Barrow, in Cumbria, against Dutch company Mammot.

However, MPI chief executive Paul Gibson said he was confident of winning the deal, which would be the most valuable in the company's history.

Mr Gibson said: "This would be the biggest contract we have had by a mile. We are up against Mammot, but we have to be hopeful of landing the deal."

MPI, which was formed earlier this year following a management buyout, is the only business in the UK carrying out the full off-shore installation of wind farms.

Mr Gibson said that if MPI won the contract - a decision is expected in the next two weeks - it would help the long-term viability of the UK wind farm industry.

He said: "It is very important for the UK industry as a whole for us to win this. It will really help us in going forward."

The installation of the 30 wind turbines, about ten miles off the Cumbrian coast, would be expected to take nine months to complete.

It would be carried out by MPI using Resolution, its £38m offshore installation vessel, which is at present working on a wind farm project off the coast of Norfolk.

MPI was created in April after Mayflower Corporation, owners of Mayflower Energy, went into administration.

The management buyout, which safeguarded 60 jobs at the Teesside company, was funded by Japanese company Mizuho International.

MPI won its first contract following the buyout in June when it agreed a £3m deal to install foundations for an offshore wind farm in Kent.

The project will provide nearly half the electricity for three large towns in the county, reducing carbon monoxide emissions by as much as 223,000 tonnes.