Ansip käis Jaapanis otsimas investoreid aga Mitcubishi andis tööd

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Mitsubishi in £100m wind turbine drive

By Ed Crooks and Chris Tighe

Published: February 25 2010 12:58 | Last updated: February 25 2010 21:18

Hopes that Britain could attract a large wind turbine factory were boosted on Thursday when Mitsubishi Power Systems, the Japanese engineering group, announced plans to invest up to £100m in a new research and development facility for offshore wind, creating 200 jobs.

Establishing the facility, to be used to develop and test Mitsubishi’s planned new large turbines for offshore use, puts Britain in the lead as the location for a factory that the government estimates could create 1,500 jobs.
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But the company warned that a decision about the manufacturing plant could take a year or longer.

Mitsubishi has not yet decided where in Britain to build its R&D facility.

Ichiro Fukue, a Mitsubishi executive, said the location would depend on support from local government and the quality and engineering skills of the workforce.

The government is supporting the facility with up to £30m in grants – 30 per cent of its capital cost.

Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, said the government was taking an “activist” position to attract investment. “We are creating the largest market for offshore wind in the world, and we are determined to create an industry to support it,” he said.

The investment needed to meet the government’s plans for offshore wind has been estimated at £100bn, an opportunity equivalent to development of the North Sea for oil and gas production in the 1970s.

Lord Mandelson said Britain had missed the opportunity to build a strong onshore wind industry, and he was “determined not to let that happen again”.

The government also announced on Thursday a further £18.5m investment in the New and Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth, Northumberland, to fund an offshore wind test site. That would allow companies to test in the North Sea the equipment they are developing for use in challenging marine environments.

The centre’s blade-testing facilities have attracted Clipper Windpower, a Californian company. It has an R&D base at Narec and is developing manufacturing at a Newcastle riverside site.

Separately Siemens, the German engineering group, said on Thursday it was to invest in Marine Current Turbines, a British tidal energy company.

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