Denmark’s Welcon to take over Vestas wind turbine plant at Campbeltown
published this on 11:12 am, Wednesday, 25th March, 2009Business| News| Renewable Energy | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
The Danish company, Skykon, has agreed to take over the former Vestas wind turbine plant at Machrihanish, near Campbeltown in Kintyre. Evo Energy are also thought to be involved.
The plant currently employs 92 people and is a key local employer. The Skycon takeover will save these jobs and may create more – possibly up to a workforce of 400 – in its plans to move to larger scale production. It will be given government financial assistance to adapt the factory for this purpose and is likely to move to include the production of large offshore wind turbines deployed to meet Scotland’s renewable energy targets.
Vestas, itself the recipient of state funding in the initial establishment of the plant, announced in the middle of last year that they were decamping to the Isle of Wight. The reason given was the unprofitability of the plant which Vestas then described as obsolete – with no seeming acceptance that it had responsibility for that condition.
Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather, began negotiations with other potential operators shortly after Vestas’ management announced the planned closure and the Danish firm was an early participant in these discussions.
It was confirmed late last year, as For Argyll reported at the time, that Welcon, a subsidiary of the Skykon group, was in talks to buy the plant as a going concern. This deal has now been finalised successfully and is a tribute to the Minister’s painstaking negotiations below the media radar.
The Minister pays tribute to the many bodies, locally and nationally, which have contributed strongly to the final success – which he sees as a team effort – but until he was positive that the deal was set in concrete he has refused to comment for fear of raising expectations that might not be met.
First Minister Alex Salmond, with Enterprise Minister Jim Mather, is to join other guests at the factory tomorrow afternoon (Thursday 26th March at 2.30pm) and the official announcement is expected to be made then.
(Later addition to this story: 26th March. See follow up story with video of the First Minister’s announcement on 26th March)
Highlands MSP, Jamie McGrigor has welcomed the news with unequivocal delight. He says: ‘This is wonderful news for Campbeltown and Kintyre and I congratulate all those involved, particularly Councillor Donald Kelly for spearheading the effort to save the facility, and the representatives of the workforce who fought so hard for this conclusion.
‘At Donald Kelly’s behest I tabled questions in Parliament and wrote letters to the relevant Ministers which hopefully helped to bring about this happy outcome.
‘This is cause for celebration but the hard work must go on to improve the prospects for Campbeltown and Kintyre and surely now we must expect an announcement regarding a ferry service to Northern Ireland or, failing that, to the Ayrshire coast to provide a much needed transport link for Kintyre which has been lacking ever since the last UK Conservative Government was in power.
‘Recently, HIE head Willie Roe announced that Kintyre was one of the three areas in which HIE would be investing heavily and he identified five key projects”
- the saving of the Vestas factory
- a ferry to Troon
- the reestablishment of the new creamery
- the new Macrihanish Dunes Golf Course
- the future of the MOD base at Macrihanish.
‘We now have news on the Vestas situation and I know that the Golf Course project is well under way but a big question mark still hangs over the future of the base and the MOD’s responsibilities there too and much depends on a ferry link which would hopefully help the new wind turbine factory as another transport link.
‘I understand that the Council is looking at funding the widening of the road between Macrihanish site and the harbour and have plans for static cranes and other new facilities. This is all good news for Campbeltown and Kintyre which will hopefully be seen as an emerging ray of sunshine in the economic gloom that exists at present. The pressure must remain to ensure these good ideas bear fruit’.
The photograph above shows offshore wind turbines off Denmark and is by the copyright holder, Hans Hillewaert. It is reproduced here under the GNU Free Documentation licence.
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July 25th, 2009 at 8:29 am
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July 26th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
[...] story on the Scottish Government’s rescue of the former Vestas plant at Campbeltown, with the arrival of Welcon Towers, has also been referenced by The Guardian, read and [...]