As we reported earlier in the week, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, made a trip to the Isle of Wight on Tuesday.
Mr Huhne visited stove manufacturers, AJ Wells, boat-builders, SouthBoats and also spent time at the new Vestas R&D centre at West Mills.
During his visit, Mr Huhne told the BBC, “Energy revolutions take a long time and what I see on the Isle of Wight is that there’s a lot of commitment to this revolution and here at Vestas you’re seeing the next generation of really impressive engineering when it comes to offshore wind, which is going to help bridge the gap in our power supplies nationally.”
Address to workers at Vestas R&D Centre
As well as meeting the CEO of Vestas, Ditlev Engel, Mr Huhne gave an address to workers at the R&D Centre as below.
“This is certainly a great vote of confidence in the future of the wind sector, and the Isle of Wight, and demonstrates the economic potential of the new green economy.
“These are very exciting times. In many ways what we are living through just now is nothing short of a true revolution – as we transition to a low carbon economy.
“This isn’t a ‘nice to have’ ambition though – our increasing dependence on energy imports jeopardises our security and our competitiveness. We urgently need to reduce our emissions and tackle climate change.
“Clean, green wind energy will have a key role to play in the transition. As well as the obvious climate change benefits, this home-grown energy source offers security of supply and insurance against oil price spikes.
“We currently lead the world in terms of offshore wind with some 1.5GW of capacity installed: last week’s new EWEA numbers found almost all turbines installed in the first half of this year were in the UK: 101 off the UK, compared to just seven in the rest of Europe.
“Our Electricity Market Reform White Paper, published last month, sets out the clear, long-term framework companies need to invest and to build on this lead position.
“Innovative new components, including those likely to be tested and developed here in these very facilities, will play a crucial role in bringing costs down. As will new high yield multi-mega watt turbines of the type Vestas have recently announced.
“On the latter point I know Vestas are one of a number of companies who have announced intentions to open turbine manufacturing plants in the UK. I very much hope to see that intention become reality.”
Image: DECC – Rick Tomlinson under CC BY 2.0
