A Danish energy giant is bidding to build a wind turbine blade manufacturing facility in the Port of Leith – handing a major boost to the Forth Green Freeport which officially opens for business tomorrow.
Vestas is seeking planning permission from City of Edinburgh Council to build a manufacturing facility for offshore wind turbine blades, a laydown area, and “all associated and ancillary development”, according to a proposal of application notice submitted to the authority.
The development may be seen as a significant fillip to hopes Scotland can claim a greater share of green jobs associated with the energy transition and an early boost to the Forth Green Freeport, which covers 550 hectares of land spanning Grangemouth, Rosyth and Mid-Forth (Leith and Burntisland).
READ MORE: Tennent's boss quits with immediate effect amid €17m charge
Green freeport status gives the area a special tax designation allowing it incentivise companies to establish bases and in turn create jobs in an area spanning 550 hectares.
Vestas plans were welcomed by Dame Susan Rice, chair of Forth Green Freeport, who said: "The significant potential of the Forth Green Freeport has been highlighted by today’s news that Vestas has identified the Port of Leith as a possible location for a wind turbine blade manufacturing facility.
"This is an example of how Green Freeport status can be used to boost Scotland’s renewable energy credentials with the potential to create hundreds of quality, green jobs in Scotland, supporting the just transition to net zero.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel