Wind turbine manufacturer Areva and Scottish Enterprise have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a wind turbine manufacturing plant in Scotland.
The new agreement is a further step towards establishing an AREVA factory in Scotland that will manufacture its 5 MWe turbines for offshore projects in the United Kingdom, the new site will complement Areva’s existing Le Havre facility in france which supplies France, Belgium and the south of England.
The move is part of the group’s strategy to establish a manufacturing base that will cover the European market from three main industrial hubs in Germany (Bremerhaven), France (Le Havre) and the UK (Eastern Scotland).
Areva has chosen to locate its future facility in East Scotland to optimise logistics costs for UK projects and to benefit from a growing cluster of offshore supply chain businesses in the area. Its development has the potential to create 750 direct jobs in the manufacture of wind turbines and blades.
In the UK, Areva is also involved in both nuclear decommissioning and plans for new build where it is actively working to develop a local industrial supply chain.
Luc Oursel, CEO of AREVA, said:
This demonstrates the group’s commitment to contribute to the development of an ambitious offshore wind industry in the UK. The Scottish site will complete our industrial plan to supply European offshore wind projects and will strongly position us to grasp opportunities in the extensive UK market.
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