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Wind turbine plant for Isle of Lewis |
28 October 2002 |
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The Executive today welcomed the announcement by Highlands and Islands Enterprise Network that they will be providing £2.6m worth of funding to a manufacturing project that will bring 65 jobs to Lewis. The money will be used to assist Cambrian Engineering set up a wind turbine tower and offshore pile manufacturing and assembly operation at Arnish Industrial Estate. The announcement will be made during the Highlands and Islands
Convention in Oban attended by the First Minister Jack McConnell,
Enterprise Minister Iain Gray, Environment and Rural Development
Minister Ross Finnie, Deputy Enterprise Ministers Lewis Macdonald
and and Deputy Public Services Ministers Peter Peacock. Iain Gray said: "This announcement is a tremendous boost to the local economy.
Cambrian have shown that they have absolute faith in the local
workforce and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have repaid this
faith by the size of the investment announced here today. "The type of industry that Cambrian are looking to supply
- the manufacture of wind turbines and generators has the potential
to be a real growth area in Scotland. The Executive is well aware
of the difficulties that the manufacturing sector has faced in
recent times and it is therefore particularly pleasing to welcome
these new jobs to Lewis. "It is also particularly pleasing to see the reopening of
the Arnish yard in Stornoway as a significant manufacturing facility. "I congratulate everyone involved in making this announcement
possible and wish the company continued success in Lewis." Ross Finnie added: "This announcement is a good news for the Isle of Lewis
and for Scotland too. The Scottish Executive is now consulting
on an ambitious target to increase to 40 per cent the contribution
renewable energy sources make to our overall energy consumption.
Boosting our capacity in renewable technologies will help us to
meet that target. "As importantly developments in renewables bring real opportunities
to renew rural communities with novel and sustainable industries.
Wind and wave generation research, development and manufacturing
can create the skilled jobs on which a more secure future for
those communities can be built." "The Western Isles is one of HIE’s highest priority area,
and our recent multi-million commitment to the Arnish upgrade
is further proof of that. "Cambrian Engineering is a well established company serving a growth industry and I am pleased that we have managed to attract tenants of this calibre to Arnish." The Arnish Yard on Lewis was closed in November 1999 when the previous owner, Lewis Offshore Ltd, went into receivership.
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