Thursday

28th Mar 2024

European wind lobby distances itself from UK turbine factory occupation

  • Opposition to building windmills is cited as one of the company's main reasons for abandoning production in the UK (Photo: European Commission)

British workers occupying a wind turbine factory in an attempt to prevent its closure have become a cause célèbre for environmentalists, Green MEPs and trade unionists, but the wind lobby in both London and Brussels has condemned the actions of the workers and taken the side of the company.

On Tuesday, a group of around 25 workers from Britain's only wind turbine plant, owned by Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems, occupied their Isle of Wight factory in a last-ditch effort the prevent the loss of some 600 jobs when the facility closes at the end of this month.

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The workers have been fenced in by management, but are vowing to remain inside until the government moves to nationalise the plant.

The company, for its part, says that due to the recession, troubles with bank finance and obstacles to gaining planning permission for windmills in the UK as a result of rural ‘nimbyism', the plant is not a viable concern and so is shifting production to the US and China.

The occupation, bringing together both greens and union supporters, has proved to be a lightning rod for those who argue that stronger government intervention is needed to solve both the climate crisis and the economic crisis.

In an unusual coalition, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Green MEPs Caroline Lucas and Jean Lambert have rallied to the cause of the workers alongside unions Unite, Unison, the RMT, the PCS, and left-wing MPs.

For them, the issue is as clear a proof as they could find to support their belief that the market left to its own devices is no friend of the environment and are demanding the government, which only last week unveiled its Low Carbon Transition Plan in which wind energy enjoyed pride of place, intervene to save the factory.

"The Royal Bank of Scotland bankers got £775 million in bonuses for helping bring down the UK economy," said Greenpeace UK's, Robin Oakley. "By contrast, these men and women who could help Britain build a vibrant new green economy are being snubbed."

"Last week Labour promised Britain would install thousands of wind turbines in the coming years. Are ministers really now saying they'd rather buy those turbines from abroad than make them here in the UK?" he continued. "It just doesn't make sense."

MEP Caroline Lucas, who has made campaigning for a neo-Keynesian ‘Green New Deal' in response to the crisis the cornerstone of her recent activities, said: "I give my full support to the campaign to stop the closure of the Vestas wind turbine manufacturing plant."

'Nationalisation no solution'

However, the European Wind Energy Association and its UK counterpart, the British Wind Energy Association - the lobby groups for the sector and often allies of green NGOs in the push for greater use of renewable energy - is taking the company's side in the dispute and argues that the government's sole role is to provide a good climate for investment.

Condemning the actions of UK workers, Kristian Kjaer, the chief executive of EWEA, told EUobserver: "The solution is not nationalisation or bail-outs. The wind energy sector itself is much better at producing wind turbines than the government."

"It's a question of roles. The sector's role is to manufacture wind turbines and the government's role is to create a framework that attracts investment and regulation to ensure targets are met. I don't think we should mix up these roles."

"When it comes to such a framework, the UK's announcement last week for renewable targets is quite a good plan."

Vestas sits on EWEA's board of directors, and, according to the group's spokesperson, Paolo Berrino, is "one of our most important members - they're the number one manufacturer of wind turbines in the world."

Mr Kjaer however denied that Vestas' role in the association influenced their perspective: "We would feel the same way whichever company was in this situation."

While conceding that the import of wind turbines to the UK had implications in terms of additional carbon emissions, he said that the association has no position on where the company is opening and closing factories.

Market not big enough

Vestas, the world's biggest wind energy firm, made pre-tax profits of €803 million last year, up from €579 million in 2007 and saw a quarterly sales rise of 59 percent, up to €1.1 billion, with its UK division also producing rising multi-million pound profits each year.

Nevertheless, the company, which is also laying off 1,275 employees in Denmark, says that the UK wind market is "not big enough" to warrant a maintenance of the factory.

Peter Kruse, a senior vice-president with the firm, told this website: "Due to the credit crunch, soft currency and lack of political action in the UK, we have had to cut down capacity."

"The local demand in northern Europe is not sufficient to compensate for the capacity that is being freed up by this decision."

He explained that ‘not-in-my-backyard' resistance to windfarms by local groups in rural areas was holding up the expansion of the UK market.

"Downing Street is doing a lot to support green jobs, but in the countryside there is a lot of opposition. We are being stalled locally. Hardly anything is happening onshore."

Additionally, the Isle-of-Wight plant has mainly sold turbine blades to the US market, and the company says it makes more sense financially and environmentally to make them locally. The company is also receiving local subsidies in its new locations, according to Mr Kruse, "but not a lot in comparison to the investment."

The company had months ago committed to re-tooling the plant to service the UK market, but management has since had a change of opinion.

"The offshore market cannot justify us converting the facility to make products for the UK. The market is not big enough. We need onshore too."

Cheaper costs in China, US

However, the British Wind Energy Association, which is also backing the company, admits that the sector in the UK is, on the contrary, rapidly expanding despite the planning hiccoughs.

"Already, there are 2500 wind turbines in the UK and we also have planning approval for another 3814 in the next two to three years," BWEA's Nick Medic told EUobserver.

"Meanwhile, the offshore market is set to explode. In the next 10-12 years, we need another 5-7000 turbines in the UK. There is a significant domestic demand for wind energy. The factory could have 10-15 years of supplying that demand."

Nevertheless, the BWEA still believes it is the company's right to make whatever commercial decisions it feels fit and that in an increasingly competitive wind energy market, decisions like this are necessary.

"Because of this rapidly rising demand, lots of large corporations are entering the market and the sector's becoming very, very competitive. A number of new entrants are coming from India and China, and it could be that the company needs to cut its costs, producing more cheaply and efficiently."

"This is to be expected - they have a clear obligation to shareholders to maximise profits."

Though the workers are determined to stay until the government gives in to their demands, the Department of Energy and Climate Change has said there is little they can do.

The government has been in talks with Vestas for the last few months and accepts the logic of blades intended for the US market to be manufactured there. However, the department is hoping to attract other producers of wind turbines such as Siemens or Clipper to the UK.

One green NGO campaigner who had visited the factory to support the workers said that the whole episode had made her cynical about the companies involved in the wind sector.

"There's always a bit of a conflict when you've got these big wind companies. Many of them are very large corporations indeed."

"Companies are always looking out for the bottom line and it's no different for green energy companies."

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