Investment in wind turbine producer creating 160 jobs
● Cash injection of £27m in CS Wind’s UK base in Argyll comes amid deal wins
A Kintyre manufacturer of wind turbines is set to boost production and create as many as 160 jobs, with work starting yesterday on the UK’S first offshore wind tower factory at the Campbeltown site.
CS Wind UK has secured a deal with Siemens to produce up to 200 wind towers between 2017 and 2019 at its UK base in Machrihanish, where it has 175 staff.
The £27 million investment by South Korean-headquartered CS Wind Corporation, which acquired the business in April, was flagged earlier this week when it revealed a deal with Swedish wind farm developer Vattenfall to collaborate on various onshore and offshore wind projects.
Scotland’s Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse was set to join CS Wind chairman Seonggon Gim and Charles Hay, UK ambassador to the Republic of Korea, at a ground-breaking ceremony at the site yesterday.
Wheelhouse said: “The £27m investment undertaken by CS Wind UK, which will increase production capacity at the Campbeltown plant, highlights the importance of both the onshore and offshore wind sectors to the Scottish economy.
“I warmly welcome this important collaboration, which will help to deliver on our aim for Scottish engineering and the wider renewables supply chain to capture a far greater share of the economic value arising from the construction phase of wind energy projects.
“The announcement also reinforces our view that offshore wind energy represents not only a vital energy resource, and Scotland is a highly competitive location for projects, but also that the supply chain for the technology presents a huge economic opportunity for both Scotland and the UK.”
Niall Stuart, chief executive of industry body Scottish Renewables, added that the announcement “comes hot on the heels of contract wins for businesses in Wick, Nigg and Fife, all of which reinforces the economic and social benefits of investment in renewable energy”.
The Machrihanish site was saved from closure in 2011 when it was acquired by Wind Towers (Scotland), a joint venture between SSE and Marsh Wind Technology, after Danish owner Skykon went into administration.
Meanwhile, Aim-listed tidal power specialist Atlantis Resources has announced the signing of a deal it believes to be a “world first”, combining wind and tidal power output.
It said its majority-owned Meygen project and Lochend Wind Energy nearby in Caithness, which is developing a four-turbine wind farm, have agreed to facilitate access to the distribution grid for other renewable energy projects.
Under the collaboration, the wind farm will be able to deliver electricity to the grid “whenever the Meygen tidal project is not making full use of the available export capacity” and will improve use of the existing grid network without affecting Meygen’s generation, Atlantis Resources said.