A TRADE union has slammed Boris Johnson’s pledge on every UK home being powered by offshore wind farms by 2030, calling it “hollow words”.
Unite Scotland also branded the Prime Minister’s promise to commit to 60% of turbines being manufactured domestically as “rehashed rhetoric”.
The Prime Minister said that every UK home would be powered by electricity from offshore wind farms by 2030, with £160 million set to be spent on upgrading ports and factories for building wind turbines.
But the trade union criticised the promise, pointing to the likes of Scottish-based firm BiFab who just weeks ago lost out on contract work for the supply for turbine jackets for SSE’s offshore wind farm in Angus. The work instead went to companies in China and the UAE, even though BiFab has engineering sites closer to home in Fife and Stornoway.
The firm was also priced out for local work last year, after EDF granted the majority of the supply chain for its wind farm, about 10 miles off the coast of Fife, to Indonesia.
Unite also highlighted the situation being faced by Campbeltown-based wind turbine company CS Wind, which has been sitting idle since last November.
Unite Scottish secretary Pat Rafferty said: “The announcement by the Prime Minister that the UK will commit to 60% of turbines to be manufactured domestically is rehashed rhetoric.
“The UK Government has repeatedly failed to act on recommendations for years.”
He added: “The onshore and offshore wind sector in Scotland is on life support. We have the BiFab yards and CS Wind in Campbeltown sitting idle.
“The Prime Minister’s pledge is hollow words for these communities. SSE is awarding work everywhere but Scotland. EDF awarding scraps from the table. CS Wind’s Korean owners have mothballed its factory.
“We urgently need the Contracts for Difference Scheme reformed to legally ensure that domestic-based firms are guaranteed work from the billions of pounds being poured into the on and offshore wind sector. The reality is that the people of Fife, Lewis and Argyll and Bute haven’t seen a penny of it.”
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