UK campaign to save ports fund

A campaign has been launched to highlight the necessity of investment into port facilities in order to safeguard the UK’s place in the wind farm supply chain.

The previous UK government pledged £60m towards upgrading the infrastructure at the nation's ports to enable wind turbine manufacturing in this country, crucial for delivering the latest offshore wind projects.

However, a renewable energy trade association is warning the fund could now be scrapped as part of the new government’s spending review in October and this could mean the UK loses out on 50,000 new jobs as manufacturers look to base their offshore wind operations outside the UK.

RenewableUK has stressed that decisions on new port infrastructure must be taken in the next six to twelve months if the UK is to take advantage of the manufacturing and supply chain opportunities offered by the Round 3 wind farm projects.

The campaign has received cross-party support from Charles Kennedy former Liberal Democrat leader, Alan Whitehead (Labour MP) and Peter Aldous (Conservative MP), who are co-sponsoring an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons today on the subject.

Dr Gordon Edge, director of policy at RenewableUK, said: “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to become a world-leader in offshore wind but if we fail to capitalise on the lead we have in this sector, those jobs will be lost to rival countries.”
(Source:www.portstrategy.com)