Clipper confirms plans for wind turbine factory

Manufacturing of wind turbines set to return to England, with factory in Newcastle making world's largest blades

Tim Webb
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 February 2010 17.27 GMT
Manufacturing of wind turbines is set to return to England after Clipper Windpower finally confirmed plans for a ­factory in the north-east, providing a much-needed boost to a region that has suffered badly from the recession.
The American company said it would invest in a testing facility at Walker, on the banks of the Tyne near Newcastle, for what it claims are the world's largest turbine blades.
Each of Windpower's "Britannia" turbines would be able to generate up to 10MW of electricity, enough for 10,000 homes. If the blades work properly, Clipper will make up to 75 of them a year, employing up to 500 people by 2020.
Gordon Brown and the energy and ­climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, visited the site today. The government recently announced it was helping to fund the project.
Clipper has been planning the scheme for some time, but it had been delayed while it negotiated the sale of a 49% stake in itself to UTC for $270m (£172m), which was completed in December.
The company hopes the turbines will be used in the giant offshore wind projects for which the Crown Estate recently awarded operating licences. The turbines will be manufactured in a new factory being built in Walker by Shepherd Offshore, the business run by former Newcastle United chairman Freddie Shepherd.
Brown said: "The essential work of tackling climate change brings with it new ways of doing things, which in turn brings with it new jobs. Today's announcement is clear evidence of new, green industries being firmly established in the UK."
"The UK is a global leader in offshore wind power and the north-east is at the forefront in providing the skills, expertise and enterprise to capitalise on this rapidly expanding market, which has the potential to create thousands of green jobs."
Shepherd, whose business has risen to prominence in the wake of the decline of the shipbuilding industry, said: "This industry will build on our proud history, our skills and our ambition. We are determined that we will create here the very best location for the international offshore wind industry."
Danish firm Vestas closed its turbine plant on the Isle of Wight last year, blaming a slowdown in orders worldwide and "nimby" objectors to onshore projects in the UK. Skykon in Scotland is currently the only factory making components for the wind industry in the UK.