MHI Vestas Expands UK Industrial Footprint With New Blade Painting And Logistics Facility In Fawley

MHI Vestas will repurpose a decommissioned, oil-fired power plant into a state-of-the-art painting and logistics facility for its record-breaking 80-metre turbine blades.

In a striking example of the clean energy transition in the UK, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind has announced that it will soon be operating at the site where the oil-fired Fawley Power Plant once generated power.

The new facility is the latest in a series of manufacturing investments made by the company as part of its comprehensive industrialisation strategy underway in the UK. The new facility will compliment MHI Vestas’ advanced manufacturing facility on the Isle of Wight where the 80m blades are manufactured. This investment is a direct result of strong demand for the V164 offshore wind turbine platform.

The new facility, expected to begin operations in April 2018, creating up to fifty jobs, demonstrates the rapid industrialisation of offshore wind – sending a clear signal to policy makers that with market certainty and large-scale projects, manufacturing investment and clean energy jobs will continue to expand in the UK. MHI Vestas welcomes the recent UK CFD budget and auction announcement.

The expansion of MHI Vestas’ blade and storage footprint in the UK will bring these functions closer to other manufacturing sites and closer to UK project sites.

The expansion comes as part of a larger, community revitalisation plan from the site’s owner, Fawley Waterside Ltd., who is committed to the establishment of a vibrant, new community with a strong employment offer. MHI Vestas’ planned use of the old power plant is central to this aspiration.