Wind turbine maker secures 35 tower deal

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Mabey Bridge has employed an extra 45 people and transferred another 50 from its bridge-building operation to its new £38 million wind turbine manufacturing facility to meet demand following the deal with German company Nordex.

Production of the 120-tonne towers, which are between 213ft and 230ft, will start in mid-February with the company working round the clock at its facility in South Wales.

Around 170 staff will be working on the project, the firm said.

The deal will see 14 of the towers built for Pennant Walters' Pant-Y-Wal site near Rhondda, South Wales, in June, the first time turbine towers installed in Wales will have been made by a Welsh company.

The remaining 21 towers will be installed at the Baillie wind farm, owned by local windfarm developers and Statkraft, near Thurso on the north coast of Scotland in June.

The two sets of turbines will have the capacity to power the equivalent of 60,000 homes, Mabey Bridge said.

The company's UK director said: "2011 was a challenging year for the wind turbine industry overall, with the latest available figures putting the number of new towers installed onshore in the UK last year at fewer than 250.

"Against this backdrop, the signing of a 35-tower deal with Nordex is a real boost for all the staff working at Mabey Bridge.

"We are very excited by the market currently and expect to make further announcements soon."