Vestas to build wind turbine factory in North Kent

Danish wind farm specialists Vestas is expected to announce today a plan to manufacture wind turbines at Britain’s historical naval dockyard of Sheerness on the Thames estuary.

It is believed Vestas signed an agreement with Peel Ports to take over 70 hectares of land in the docks.

However the company’s plan to develop a plant on the site is dependent on government assistance and also on commitments by power utilities to install thousands of turbines in the UK over the next two decades.

A spokesman for the firm said: “Vestas is prepared to make the necessary, significant investment in turning the option into a full lease and building the planned new production facilities, thereby creating more than 2,000 direct and indirect new jobs - provided the V164-7.0MW order pipeline materialises as expected.”

Vestas is the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer.