Mitsubishi wind centre jobs boost for Tyneside

Feb 26 2010 by Adam Jupp, The Journal

HUNDREDS of jobs could be coming to the North East with the creation of a £100m wind turbine research centre.

Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government to invest the cash in research and development into green energy.

And business secretary Lord Mandelson yesterday said the firm was looking at a number of sites in the region as potential bases for the centre, which could create 1,500 jobs.

It comes a week after American giant Clipper revealed it was moving into a factory in Walker Riverside, in Newcastle’s East End, where it will build turbine blades the size of jumbo jets.

Mitsubishi is yet to finalise exactly where it will locate its research and development base, but regeneration chiefs see the North East as the ideal location due to the region’s current expertise in this area and the existence of huge swathes of vacant industrial land, particularly along the banks of the Tyne.

And the Prime Minister is said to be of the same opinion, having described the North East as “leading the world” in the growing renewable energy sector.

Lord Mandelson signed the memorandum of understanding with Mitsubishi, along with climate change secretary Ed Miliband, both of whom spent the end of last week in the region.

Mitsubishi chief executive Akio Fukui said the firm will build a prototype wind turbine within three years and that full-scale production will start after four years.

The turbines will be for offshore wind farms and will be offered for sale in overseas markets such as Germany, the United States and China as well as the United Kingdom.

Lord Mandelson said 200 jobs would initially be created, but that the scale of the development had the potential to generate as many as 1,500.

He added: “No country makes offshore wind turbines of the size we are talking about today on a commercial scale.

“Twenty years ago, the UK was a leading centre for onshore wind technology, but we failed to capitalise on that by not providing the right climate for growth.