Scotland loses out in £80m turbine plans

SCOTLAND appears to have lost out on plans by German conglomerate Siemens to invest more than £80 million and create 700 jobs in a new UK factory to manufacture offshore wind turbines.

Although Scottish Enterprise has been in discussion with the firm, it is understood Siemens has narrowed its search for a potential site for the factory down to the north-east and east coast of England where it already has significant renewable energy interests.

A spokeswoman for Scottish Enterprise said as far as the agency was concerned it was still in discussion with the company.

"As these discussions are ongoing, we cannot offer any further detail at this time," she said.

Siemens said the UK government's decision to announce a 60m fund to support the development of infrastructure at ports to handle offshore wind equipment had been a key factor in its decision.

It had also been considering locations in its home country and in Denmark.

Andreas Goss, Siemens' chief executive in the UK, said: "The UK government has created a stable framework to attract inward investment in renewables and offshore wind power in particular."

A number of other manufacturers have recently said they are looking at setting up production facilities in the UK to meet demand on a raft of offshore wind projects expected to be developed in the coming years.

No turbines are made in Britain at present after Danish manufacturer Vestas shut its plant on the Isle of Wight last year.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said yesterday's announcement was a major boost for the UK offshore wind industry.

He said: "Siemens are a world leader in wind technology and this is a fantastic endorsement of the UK as a destination for renewable energy businesses. Siemens' plans will provide hundreds of manufacturing jobs and many more in the supply chain."

The group is already a growing player in the UK's renewables industry and recently established an energy sector training centre in Newcastle. It also has its global centre for offshore grid connections in Manchester and has established R&D centres of excellence for wind power at Keele and Sheffield universities. Early this year, licences were announced for offshore wind farms with a capacity of 32 gigawatts, which Siemens hopes will meet a quarter of the UK's electricity needs by 2020.

In Scotland, a project in the Firth of Forth is being taken forward by Scottish & Southern Energy and American firm Fluor which could see some 600 turbines installed. In the Moray Firth, a consortium of Portuguese firm EDP Renovveis and Aberdeenshire company SeaEnergy Renewables is planning to build another wind farm of 250 turbines.