The planned closure of Vestas’ Isle of Wight wind turbine plant has been something of an embarrassment for the government as it seeks to put wind at the heart of the UK’s future energy mix.
As the sit-in of around 25 of the 625 workers set to lose their jobs moves into its third week, the story shows no signs of going away.
Vestas wants to close the plant – which was due to manufacture turbine blades for the UK market – because it believes UK planning regulations are stunting the growth of the market for wind power.
Originally due to close last Friday, the consultation period for the factory’s workers has now been extended. This has been hailed as a success by protestors and members of the RMT union, but expect things to get messy as a court hearing tomorrow kick starts legal proceedings to end the occupation.
But the planning issues around wind turbines pale alongside Boris Johnson’s latest ruse.
This week the London mayor receives the feasibility report into the development of “floating airport” off the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Valley. Touted as an alternative to a third runway at Heathrow, the £40bn hub would span four runways across two islands and operate 24 hours a day. According to the proposals, it would be powered by water turbines and linked to the mainland by bridges and tunnels.
Finally this week, the latest set of figures detailing monthly car registrations in the UK will show whether the government’s “Bangers for cash” scheme is continuing to have a positive impact. June’s figures suggested that the scheme may have slowed the decline of the sector.
Jon Excell
Deputy Editor
This situation is typical of a government that has clearly lost its integrity and common sense. If we see Vestas close, the contract for the UK windfarm blades will most likely be subcontracted to an overseas business (probably at a higher cost etc), plus 625 people will lose their jobs and have to start claiming job seekers allowance instead of contributing taxes from their wages. If we can bail out corrupt banking institutions then why can’t the government subsidise the plant so that we have a blade made in the UK, installed in the UK and generating power for the UK?
Regards
Martyn Cotterill
Boris Johnson is sane. Vestas are nuts. Stick your Danish wind turbines where the fresh UK air does not blow. We in the UK can manufacture wind turbines. We also produce good butter. Lurpak forget it. Vestas goodbye.
I agree with Martyn, and would add that while I am not a great fan of nationalising businesses just to keep them afloat, this is an exceptional case. If this government is serious about wind power, it would make some sense to bring such a manufacturing enterprise under it’s control. Alternatively, of course, this may just be an attempt to get the planning laws changed in such a way that would benefit the existing company?
It strikes me that the Isle of Wight, or any other little island without a road or rail bridge, is not the most obvious place to locate a manufacturer of large objects like wind turbine blades. Having to ferry raw materials onto the island and finished blades off the island is obviously an easily avoidable overhead if the plant had been set up somewhere more convenient, and immediately puts the company at a cost disadvantage.
Perhaps they should be bought out by BAE?
Contrary to another post on this Forum questioning the location of this company, the location of Vestas is a perfect place to manufacture such huge objects. The company is located literally within yards of the sea and uses a large cradle to load the blades onto large barges for transport as complete sets of blades to Southampton Docks only a short boat ride away across the Solent. From there the blades are exported across the world and there’s not a bit of road choking transportation in sight! What better way to move these huge objects?!
The government should show commitment to renewable energy and protect UK jobs in stepping in to sort this mess out.
Clearly everyone can get political and blame the government or say they should save the company, but what is the real story? Companies live or die by the skill of their directors and the twists and turns of the market. If they are not competitive, or the order book is weak, they end up in administration like many other companies.
No one can really comment unless they have studied the finances.
But it is still a great shame to see more of Britain’s manufacturing industry bite the dust.
The reason the plant was originally located on the Isle of Wight is simple.
The blades are made of fibre glass and the boat building tradition of the island, through its strong sailing connections, meant the production skills and expertise were readily available.
The water borne transport is also a good logistics plans as outlined below.
Transport of the blades from the IoW is not an issue, Vestas has invested in a custom-made self-propelled barge that ‘ferries’ the blades from the shallow water River Medina, direct from the factory across the Solent to Southampton docks for transfer to the delivery ships, mostly going direct to the offshore wind farms, hence no road congestion at all and providing employment on an island where it is needed badly.
Vestas is a giant company and will presumably build the enormous blades more economically in one of its large factories elsewhere. This is natural globalisation, beloved of our main government parties. I imagine the premises on the I.o.W to be rather limited. In the future they will be ideal as a Technical Centre for wind technology. Nobody wants to clutter up the busy Solent with transfer barges to Southampton, which in any case is a wasteful operation.
Many see wind farms as a completely wasteful and futile form of energy and the less the UK has to do with it, the better.
Let’s see if the Centre of Technology can discover ways of making wind energy less than three times the price of conventional generation!
Why is it, when all are screaming about global warming and carbon emissions, that a wind turbine factory can close whilst a third runway at Heathrow is approved?
Simplistic maybe?
It is sad that the Danish firm wants to close its blade making plant on the IoW.
However, I believe they should be allowed to leave without this sit-in fuss.
The upside is that we still have a skilled workforce on hand. The government should confirm to them that they will, if they so wish, transfer over into a new company funded by the UK taxpayer to continue manufacture these products for UK off & onshore use, plus exports.
This new firm would best be helped via a shares issue, fully underwritten by the nation.
Let’s re-build new green jobs here and not have to send “green” profits abroad.