Greenpeace today welcomed the announcement by Vestas that they will build a factory for offshore wind turbines in Kent employing up to 2,000 people.
John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK said:
“This is excellent news and shows that there are real jobs and huge opportunities for the UK in renewable energy. The government now needs to create the right regulatory framework to build a sustainable green economy.
"This must include removing the blockages to faster take up of renewable energy including giving the green investment bank the ability to borrow money and setting ambitious renewable energy targets beyond 2020.”
This announcement, plus the announcement by Vestas of a 7MW offshore turbine last month, shows there is real momentum behind the offshore wind industry to both create jobs and bring down costs in the UK.
Siemens has announced a preferred location for a new factory in Hull. Gamesa, the Spanish wind turbine manufacturer, is negotiating possible port sites and putting R&D money into Dundee, and GE are expected to make an announcement soon. Mitsubishi are planning to invest £100million in R&D in Edinburgh.
However, whilst promising, none of these initiatives has yet led to new manufacturing starting in the UK. For this to happen the government has to be clear about the long term direction for renewable energy.
In particular the government needs to ensure that:
- Finance is able to flow to the offshore wind industry, via a green investment bank that has the capacity to borrow and leverage public money to deliver major private investment.
- Support mechanisms are appropriate to wind energy. The current electricity market reform proposals seem to be geared around nuclear compared to wind where, as this announcement shows, real investment and economic opportunity for the home market and export is arising now. UK government needs to make its priorities clear in favour of clean energy.
- The skills training and supply chain are put in place to deliver the green economy. The UK will face competition from Germany, where Angela Merkel recently announced a major expansion of renewable energy, in response to the German nuclear closures post Fukushima. They are particularly keen on offshore wind expansion. Germany is already said to have 300,000 jobs compared to the UK which may have as few as 10,000. Japan is now likely to follow Germany’s lead.
- The grid is expanded across Europe - a ‘supergrid’ - to allow for large quantities of variable renewable energy onto a pan-European system, integrating a ‘smart grid’ which is able to balance the power system by shifting electrical demands to when supply is available.
- Offshore planning regime allows for fast and clear decisions on where offshore wind is acceptable and where it is not, combining environmental care with being able to utilise the huge resource. The Committee on Climate Change this week gave a range for the share of renewable electricity in 2030 of up to 65% (300TWh), a large part of which could come from offshore wind. The current rounds one, two and three have a total resource potential of 33GW alone.
Prior to this announcement, the UK had been slipping down the global green investment league table. The UK slumped from third in 2009 to 13th in 2010. The UK experienced the largest decline among the G20, to just ahead of Mexico in the rankings. Germany, perhaps not surprisingly, came second after China. Major manufacturing countries like these have shown increases in green energy investment whilst the UK has shown a decline.
