RenewableUK, the trade and professional body representing the wind, wave and tidal energy industries, has welcomed AREVA’s announcement that it plans to build a wind turbine factory in Scotland, creating 750 jobs.
The Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the company in Paris today, to find a site for the factory in the East of Scotland to manufacture 5-megawatt (5MW) offshore turbines and blades.
AREVA will be joining a growing cluster of companies around the Firth of Forth involved in the offshore wind sector. Samsung, Gamesa and Mitsubishi and a growing number of offshore wind supply chain companies are establishing their operations in the area. The industry will expand rapidly if the Government can provide the right policy framework.
Maria McCaffery, RenewableUK Chief Executive , said:
“Factories like those planned by AREVA will provide the jobs of the future. Parents are asking where their children will find employment – the answer is in the renewable energy sector.
Britain’s offshore wind industry is on the threshold of delivering thousands of manufacturing jobs at a time when the country needs them most.
Today’s announcement by AREVA is the latest in a series of commitments by big companies determined to seize the opportunity to maintain Britain’s worldwide lead in offshore wind. It provides tangible proof of the growing importance of renewables to the UK’s industrial base. It will inspire confidence among the energy investor community at a crucial time, as the much-anticipated Energy Bill is about to be published.
It’s now time for the UK Government to nail its colours to the mast and make sure these planned investments come to fruition. We need to put the recent political spats over energy policy behind us and focus on what we need most – jobs, investment and securing a way of generating clean energy on an unprecedented scale.”
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Press release, November 20, 2012; Image: Areva