24-05-2025
UK steel is 'locked out' of Ed Miliband's drive for Net Zero
UK steelmaker sare being 'locked out' of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's green energy push as almost no steel used to make offshore wind turbines is British.
Swathes of turbines, some as tall as the Eiffel Tower, are to be erected in Britain in the next quarter of a century, using steel worth up to £21 billion.
But while domestic producers say they could supply nearly 90 per cent of what is needed, UK-made steel accounts for less than 2 per cent of what is used, it has emerged.
Industry bosses fear missing out on huge economic benefits from the heavily subsidised turbines, which could secure thousands of skilled jobs.
Master Cutler Phil Rodrigo, the figurehead of the 401-year-old Cutler's Company, a guild representing Sheffield's steel firms, said this 'must change', adding: 'Every wind farm put up is not consuming UK steel or if it is it's 1 or 2 per cent. We should stipulate using British-produced steel in turbines, housings and casings.'
Trade body UK Steel fears 'underinvestment in fabrication and production facilities' is 'locking the UK out of a £21 billion economic opportunity'. It says British steelmakers 'could meet up to 86 per cent' of requirements for offshore wind turbines if investment was made in steel casting and rolling mills.
