Fwd: [London] Miliband's response re Vestas wind turbine factory

[Mark Barrett]

Hi Sarah,

At 13:23 2009.07.26, you forwarded from Ed Miliband:
>
> I am very sorry for the people who are losing their jobs. ...
> The factory makes a different sized blade to the ones used in Britain, ...
> they are not at the current time converting the Isle of Wight site to make turbines for the British market.
> ... we are reforming the planning rules and are arguing strongly that people need to see climate change as a bigger threat ...
> In the end, making sure the transition happens as quickly as possible will need government action, ...

       Comforting, I'm sure, to know that Ed is sorry.  And no
argument that government action is required.  Why then is Ed not
working to convert the Isle of Wight to build turbines for Britain?

       Mark has just forwarded links to two articles:  one in the
Sunday Times by Charles Clover, [formerly of the Telegraph], which
concludes.  --

>        It frankly beggars belief that his department is still dabbling with pilot projects and holding a consultation this autumn on how best to deliver “whole-house” energy saving treatments. For it is clear what must be done – and has been since privatisation 20 years ago. The utilities must be given the incentive to sell energy “services” – heat and light produced as efficiently as possible – and not raw energy. You tell them, as the state of California did, that they can base their turnover on, say, 100% of energy sales this year, but next year it will have to be 90%. They will have to make up the difference by using their heads.
>
>        The companies don’t want to do it and they never have. But it is Miliband’s job to make them. I will know when he has succeeded: it will be when I get three competing offers to relag my loft and install my solar roof.

       If Ed can't persuade the energy companies to do this, he could
cut out the middle man and renationalise them to work in the [global]
public interest.  Even threatening to do this might help focus their
... energies.

Here are the articles:

Home insulation:
The energy war is being lost on the home front
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6727588.ece

End of Holocene, beginnning of Anthropocene - the future is in our hands
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/jul/23/climate-change-humanity-change

--------------
And here is letter from Miliband

Please see below a response  from Miliband (to an email from Food not Fuel)
about the Vestas factory in Isle  of Wight.

Sarah

Sarah Edwards
Ealing Green Party

From: _Miliband, Ed (DECC)_ (mailto:Ed.Miliband at decc.gsi.gov.uk)
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 3:09 PM
Subject: Thank you for your email

Thank you for your email about  the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight.
I am very sorry for the people  who are losing their jobs. When I met the
Vestas management a few months ago, to  see how we could help, and when I
have spoken to them since then, I have wanted  to do all I can to try to find a
solution that could help the  workforce.
Vestas have repeatedly told us  that offers of government subsidy were not
the issue for them. The factory makes  a different sized blade to the ones
used in Britain, so each one it makes is  shipped to the US. They wanted to
have their production in America to cut some  of that journey.
As part of global reductions in  their workforce, they are not at the
current time converting the Isle of Wight  site to make turbines for the British
market.
Their biggest difficulty is with  planning objections to onshore wind
turbines, which have slowed down the growth  in the UK market. That is
why we are
reforming the planning rules and are  arguing strongly that people need to
see climate change as a bigger threat to  the countryside than the wind
turbine.
Vestas are keeping a prototype  facility at the factory on the Isle of
Wight and we are currently considering an  application from them for support of
an offshore blade testing and development  facility, which will employ 150
people initially, and is expected to grow in the  future.
Government policy is having a  positive effect. Next year alone, the
renewable electricity industry will get £1  billion of support because of
government action, and the amount of power from  onshore wind grew by
a third last
year, and the amount of offshore wind power  grew by 67% - so Britain now has
more offshore wind power than any other country  in the world.
It is to enhance the prospects  for green jobs that we have made available
120 million pounds for offshore wind  manufacture in the UK and 60 million
pounds for marine development. Last week I  visited a factory in Wales that
employs 800 people and exports solar panels  across Europe. The week before I
saw a factory that is producing buses that  produce fewer emissions,
helping climate change and local air quality. Research  suggest there could be
half a million jobs in renewable energy by  2020.
I believe that to be ready to  pursue these opportunities, we must invest
in the skills, research, and the  infrastructure to help clean energy
companies grow – and we are making those  investments.
There is government action for  different industries and areas of the
country, which you can read about  at _www.hmg.gov.uk/lowcarbon_
(http://www.hmg.gov.uk/lowcarbon) .
In the end, making sure the  transition happens as quickly as possible will
need government action, it will  need dynamic companies, and it will also
need us to win arguments around the  country that renewable power should have
a bigger role in the country’s  future.
Thank you again for writing to  me.
Ed Miliband