Skykon to reap benifits

[easypeasy]

An article in The Times this week regarding the granting of licences to develop nine sites of the coast of Britain in a major expansion of wind energy suggests Kintyre will benifit. Niels Brix the vice-presedent of Skykon is confident part of the constuction will be done at Machrihanish. The local MSP said such sucess would provide work for the next 40 to 50 years.
Welcon Towers the owner of Skykon intends to expand the plant to three times its current size safegarding 85 jobs and creating 250 more.

[dgraves]

http://www.allmediascotland.com/media_r ... rgy-Market

I hope that the jobs are being filled by local employees :=)

[Kintyre Forum News]

Another very postive article today in Sky news. http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Busine ... _Community

Wind Turbine Firm Spins Success For Scots

Amongst the gloom of recession in the manufacturing world comes a very good news story.

Welders work on tower sections of a wind turbine at Skyton's plant in Cambeltown, Scotland

Skykon Campbeltown has brought sparks of optimism to the community

When I was last in Campbeltown, on the Mull of Kintyre, Scotland, some 18 months ago, the area was filled with gloom. One of the main employers, Vestas, was closing down its factory manufacturing wind towers.

This was going to have a devastating effect on the local economy, not only bringing about the direct loss of 75 jobs, but also causing much pain and hardship to all the local companies that provided services for the plant.

Subsequently, Vestas announced that it was also going to close its facility on the Isle of Wight, with the prospects of similar results amongst the local population.

This meant that the manufacture of wind turbines would cease in the United Kingdom.

However, all is not lost: a new company, Danish-owned Skykon Campbeltown, has been created.

It will carry on the same type of work as Vestas and hopes to considerably expand the plant.

Skyton has taken over the plant which used to be owned by Vestas, safeguarding jobs

David Canning, their managing director, said: "We intend to quadruple the size of the operation here, not only producing wind turbines weighing up to 75 tonnes, 20.7 metres long, but increasing the size of the factory to enable manufacture of towers up to 140 tonnes, with a length of 45 metres."

He went on: "Whereas we now have 85 employees, we intend ultimately to increase this number to about 300."

This is obviously great news for the district, as underlined by the harbour master at Campbeltown, Stephen Scally. He said: "The Harbour authorities greatly welcome this investment by Skykon. The harbour is going to be dredged to a depth of nine metres, and the pier lengthened to accommodate the much larger vessels required to service this factory."

He went on to tell me that he too would have to increase staff, as much of the material required for manufacture, and 85% of the finished produce, would be transported via the seaport. He also told me that the roads and bridges in the surrounding area were being strengthened to cope with loads of 140 tonnes per lorry.

Charles McFadyen of McFadyen’s Transport, was equally delighted. He said: "My company is investing in larger trailers and vehicles to handle the increased weight of the towers. "We shall also have to employ more drivers and staff to cope as the company increases production."

So for an area which was deeply gloomy just 18 months ago, the future is looking much more exciting, with the prospect of many new jobs that will in turn bring money flooding into the local economy. The outlook is also very bright for the industry, as the Government encourages further investment into wind generated electricity.

There are new opportunities in the pipeline, with orders being placed for delivery throughout the length and breadth of the British Isles, not to mention those for export.

So, all is not lost, and British manufacturing industry is still able to rise to the challenge.