Exclusive:Ming Yang: Labour government blocks Chinese wind factory plans for Scottish Highlands over security fears
The UK government has blocked Ming Yang’s wind turbine plans for the Scottish Highlands.
The UK government has been accused of having “pulled the rug out from under Scotland’s renewables industry” after blocking a controversial £1.5 billion Chinese wind turbine factory earmarked for the Highlands.
Ming Yang hoped to build the facility at Ardersier Port which would have been a huge vote of confidence in the offshore wind supply chain, particularly in manufacturing, amid fears the industry is not scaling up at the pace that had been hoped. It was estimated that up to 1,500 jobs could have been created at the site.
The Labour government at Westminster said Ming Yang’s plans have been rejected after “careful consideration”, arguing it was acting to “protect our national security”.
The company confirmed to The Scotsman it is “disappointed” by the decision.
It is understood the UK government’s decision was influenced by national security concerns over allowing Chinese firms into Britain’s renewables supply chain.
The Scottish government has worked for years to lobby Ming Yang to invest in Scotland through ministerial meetings, including by First Minister John Swinney and Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, and also through its overseas investment arm, Scottish Development International. SNP ministers had called for a decision to be made to hand the industry more certainty over investment decisions.
National security concerns have intensified in recent weeks, in part due to an alleged Chinese spy scandal that led to the arrest of the husband of Scottish Labour MP Joani Reid.
Ms Forbes has criticised both the decision to block the Chinese investment and the delays in making a decision.
She said: "National security is obviously important and must be respected, but it is regrettable the UK government has failed to explain precisely what the problem is with Ming Yang.
“What is clear is that Labour are already hammering Scotland’s oil and gas sector, killing investment and costing jobs.”
She added: “Now, at exactly the time when we need to accelerate the transition to clean, green energy, delivering the jobs people need, Labour have pulled the rug out from under Scotland’s renewables industry.
“This decision has been sitting on the desks of UK government ministers for over 18 months - their dithering will have far-reaching consequences that, once again, will be left for Scotland to deal with. That is simply sabotage of Scotland’s industrial future.
“In the immediate term, up to 1,500 jobs in Scotland have been awaiting this decision. And the wider message it sends is simple: Labour cannot be trusted with Scotland’s future.”
Ming Yang said the factory would have potentially supplied Scotland’s expanding floating offshore wind sector with turbines and has not given up on a long-term ambition to invest in the UK market.
It is understood that the company submitted detailed documents this week designed to address the security issues, as well as details of where, how and who they would hire and train if the factory was to go ahead in the Highlands.
A UK government minister told The Scotsman that the Labour administration was “not able to provide” assurances over national security in allowing the project to proceed. The Scotsman understands that the UK government has at no point shared specific security concerns with Ming Yang.
The Labour government has pledged to generate all of the UK’s power from clean sources by 2030, with ScotWind and other projects in Scottish waters poised to use the Ming Yang facility had it been approved.
ScotWind developers told The Scotsman’s sister paper, Scotland on Sunday, that they wanted the Ming Yang factory to be given the green light amid fears over “headwinds” in the offshore sector.
Despite the previous Tory UK government signing a memorandum of understanding with Ming Yang in 2021 to enter the energy market, which has now expired, the Conservatives and other political opponents had hit out at the Labour administration for not ruling out Chinese investment in wind power infrastructure because of cyber and national security concerns.
In January, head of Ming Yang’s UK and European operations, Aman Wang, warned that although a factory in the UK was a priority, the company has drawn up a shortlist of five other ports on continental Europe if the Labour government blocks its investment plans.
A Ming Yang spokesperson said: "We are disappointed by the UK government's decision not to allow Ming Yang's world-leading technology to be used.
“The decision misses a significant opportunity to increase competition in the capacity-constrained wind turbine market, delays Ming Yang's plans to invest £1.5 billion in Scotland in onshore wind turbine production – creating up to 1,500 jobs – and risks energy prices staying higher for longer for British households and industry at a time of global energy shocks.
READ MORE: Fears SNP's ScotWind at risk of collapse without Chinese firm MingYang's Highlands factory approval
"We will continue to engage constructively with the UK Government, including on the important topic of national security, and remain committed to supporting the UK's mission to become a clean energy superpower. We continue to believe in the long-term potential of the UK market, and our planned activities remain unchanged."
A UK government spokesperson said: "Industry have sought our view on the use of these turbines in British waters and in our energy system. After careful consideration, the government's view is that we cannot support the use of them in UK offshore wind projects.
“We will always act to protect our national security, and we are committed to strengthening and prioritising resilient and sustainable offshore wind supply chains.
“We welcome investment from China where it's in our national interest - as demonstrated by significant inward investment during the Prime Minister's recent visit to Beijing. We will continue to take a consistent, long term and strategic approach to our relationship with China - cooperating where we can, whilst never compromising on security and resilience.”
Meanwhile, the UK government welcomed an announcement from Danish firm Vestas that it would fabricate major components for wind farms in Scotland - creating 500 jobs - if it receives further orders generated by the UK government green energy auction. Projects backed include Berwick Bank off the east coast.
Vestas said it would invest £200m in a factory, with Leith touted as a potential location, to build nacelles – the protective housing used on the outside of turbines – and hubs, the central component which connects the blades and shaft.
Following the Ming Yang announcement, UK energy minister, Martin McCluskey, said: "We're always going to take decisions in the national interest, and we're going to apply where there are questions the highest levels of national security scrutiny to these decisions.
"We were asked by industry whether, you know, we could provide assurance around national security on this, and we're not able to provide that.
"You wouldn't expect to go into the details of those national security conversations, but we can't provide the level of assurance that industry is looking for to allow them to go forward."
Asked if he understood that people would be disappointed by the decision, he said: "Look, I think you can see today that there are decisions being made around, for example, with Vestas, with that commitment for a new factory, for up to 500 jobs, significant amounts of investment in Scotland.
"We've attracted over, about £90 billion of investment into the UK since the July 2024 election. Significant amounts of that have been in Scotland. We've seen Scottish projects through the AR7 round. The largest offshore wind farm in the UK will be at Berwick Bank.
"This decision today is not an indication of the future for Scotland's role in renewables.
"What I would point to is all the other decisions that have been made where we are attracting significant investment, significant levels of employment to Scotland, because of our clean energy mission.
"But national security considerations are obviously going to be a really core part of anything that we're doing, and that's why we can provide that assurance with Ming Yang."
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