Warning that wind jobs could blow by

Jan 11 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

MINISTERS have been told they must make it easier for energy jobs to come to Tyneside or risk watching millions of pounds in green investment go to Europe.

The region should have generations of heavy industry know-how on its side as the world’s leading energy companies look to build thousands of offshore turbines 100 miles east of Newcastle.

But the Government has as yet failed to persuade the world’s biggest manufacturers to follow Clipper Windpower’s example and build on the banks of the Tyne.

The jobs risk comes despite companies such as GE Energy, Siemens and Mitsubishi all visiting Tyneside to look at the potential for a new factory, The Journal can reveal.

When the world’s biggest windfarm – the London Array off Kent – was given approval last year the majority of the jobs for the turbines went to Germany.

Now it is feared that unless both city leaders and Government bosses offer even more incentives, Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s green revolution will have no jobs impact.

One of the few so far set to benefit is Clipper Windpower, which has already had its prototype of the world’s largest wind turbine purchased by the Crown Estate.

The energy company expects to be producing turbines in then North East within a few years.

Managing director David Still said: “The key thing now is to attract that investment. We must do everything we can to get that.

“The sites need to be available, the workforce has to be there and the infrastructure has to be in place.

“We have to make sure other companies are being told that here there is a lot already in place. We can see the potential here, we believe manufacturing can happen in this country and that it does not have to happen in Germany or China.

“And we think there is a supply chain here that can work with us. We hosted a session with the development agency before Christmas and there were 150 companies attending which could potentially work with us.

“We have the chance to do everything from making blades on the Tyne to gear boxes in Blyth perhaps, and this will all have to come very quickly. Time is of the essence.

“My aim is to make the UK taxpayer, who is in effect paying for a lot of this in energy bills alone, a benefactor of this in terms of jobs and it can be done here in the UK, but it quite easily can be done in Germany in Denmark.

“We have to rise up together and make sure that not just us as Clipper is here but other supply and manufacturing companies come to the region and bring more jobs.”

Regional minister Nick Brown is believed to have been working behind the scenes to secure further investment on the Tyne, although he and the regional development agency face competition from established manufacturing bases in Germany and Denmark.

Dr Colin Herron, manufacturing and productivity manager at One North East, said the region’s economy, and its future, was now built around the low-carbon sector.

He told councillors attending the Association of North East Councils’ annual summit that the green economy would be “as big as steam” for the region.

Dr Herron, seconded to the agency from Nissan, said: “If we do not take this opportunity now, in the next two or three years, then we will miss out forever.

“This is a critical point for us. And that means we have to start looking now at the skills we will need and making sure we are educating the next generation for those jobs.”