UK government issue £6 million grant to Vestas
As we covered just a few days ago, while the UK government was announcing plans to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on eco-friendly projects throughout the UK, the Danish owned turbine manufacturer Vestas announced plans to close its factory on the Isle of Wight. The timing of the announcements could not have been worse for the UK government with the Danish company citing the fact that wind turbine usage in the UK has been very low to evolve and, despite all of the headlines, this does not appear set to change in the short term.
Now the UK government has been effectively forced to issue a £6 million grant to the company although rather worryingly, this will not be used to save the at risk turbine plant. Instead the £6 will go towards the company's offshore research and development division leaving workers on the Isle of Wight looking at the dole queue. In order to deflect any potential problems regarding the closure of the factory the government has also announced a £1 billion loan package to small and medium-size green energy firms which in reality is just a rehashed announcement from months ago.
Like so many UK government before, the current authorities seem very keen to grab the headlines, but not so keen to hand over the money promised!
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