Wind turbine profits up, factory still closes

Despite the push for green energy in the UK, Britain’s Vestas plant will close on the Isle of Wight today, cutting approximately 1,999 jobs for workers at the wind turbine manufacturing facility.

According to Vestas, despite the push for green energy such as wind powered turbines, the demand in Europe and particularly the UK was not as high as expected and money cannot be placed into a factory whose goods will not be purchased.

Vestas representative, Ditlev Engel, said in a statement that the UK government was aware of the fact the plant would have to close and employees would be laid off, but made no move to prevent it or invest any additional funds into wind energy.

He also stated that government funds earmarked to improve offshore wind programs have been increased and Vestas will take a look into the funds to see if reopening the plant is viable, but that the UK should focus on onshore wind programs as well for full effectiveness.

It would be hard to reopen the plant once employees are laid off because a readily available workforce may not be available to rebuild the Isle of Wight factory.

The layoffs came as a surprise to many after Vestas released its quarterly numbers that showed sales rose 59%.

However, Vestas said it was not low sales or funding that caused the close of the factory, but rather an overproduction of goods, as they have had excellent sales but not as many orders as anticipated to continue to keep the factory open.