Wind turbine manufacturing in the UK has received a significant boost this week, with the announcement that engineering company Mabey Bridge is to build a £38 million wind turbine tower factory at Chepstow in South Wales.
Mabey Bridge, which is better know for building bridges and car parks, claims the move will make it the biggest
manufacturer of towers for both on and offshore
wind projects in the UK. The company expects the factory to be up and running at the end of 2010 and to be producing 200 towers a year in the near future. The investment will create around 240 new skilled
jobs in the UK.
Announcing the plans, yesterday, the company's managing director, Peter Lloyd, said: "We are forecasting that production at the facility will provide around half the UK's requirement for wind turbine towers, greatly reducing the need for developers to import."
Mabey Bridge, which has existing factories in Chepstow and Lydney, in Gloucestershire, has already spent £13 million on the site of the proposed factory.
The factory will sit on 18 acres of land in what is being described as the largest speculative industrial facility in Wales. When up and running, it will be capable of fabricating tower sections up to five metres in diameter and 40 metres in length. It will do this using the latest manufacturing techniques, including computer controlled cutting and rolling, robotic welding, and an automated painting facility.
Mabey Bridge’s announcement follows the news earlier this month that
Welcon Towers, an Argyll-based wind turbine manufacturer and part of the international Skykon group, will begin manufacturing towers for the offshore wind sector following an upgrade of its factory in Machrihanish, which was formerly owned by Vestas.
Both announcements are good news for the UK wind energy manufacturing industry, which looked to be in decline after
Vestas, the world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturer pulled out of the UK last year, with the closure of its plant on the Isle of Wight.
"The investment goes against the grain of the decline in the manufacturing sector in the UK and will put South Wales at the heart of the move towards a low carbon economy," said Lloyd.
The Deputy First Minister of the Welsh Assembly, Ieuan Wyn Jones, welcomed the announcement yesterday, saying: "Green jobs just like these will be central to the future of the Welsh economy. These are highly skilled jobs that will provide a boost to the local economy while showing once again that manufacturing is still central to Wales.”
The British Wind Energy Association's (BWEA) also approved of the move. Its chief executive, Maria McCaffery, said: "We are beginning to see the return of turbine manufacturing in the UK, making the low carbon economy a reality and bringing much needed jobs to local communities."
A decision on
Mabey Bridge’s planning application for the factory in Chepstow is expected this spring.