UK not FIT for foreign investment

The British boss of a Chinese-based firm has pulled the plug on a European manufacturing plant blaming a lack of Government backing.


Yingli Green Energy Europe managing director, Stuart Brannigan, speaking to edie at Ecobuild today (March 1) says Europe no longer made ‘economic sense’.

Mr Brannigan said the business was looking towards the UK, among other possibilities, for a European manufacturing base.

Plans were at the initial feasibility stage but now, according to Mr Brannigan, it was now not even worth doing basic feasibility studies.

But, the recent announcement by energy minister Chris Huhne on the Feed In Tariffs (FITs) was the final straw.

Mr Brannigan said: “As a British guy working for a Chinese company I’m a little disappointed.

“Because the key thing for a company like us, if we were to consider investment in a manufacturing facility, is some sort of clarity around the investment possibility.

“Right now we simply don’t have that clarity, we have confusion and, simply, a lack of understanding where we’ll be not just in five years but in five months.

“So right now any sort of investment possibility in a European facility is on hold, because we don’t know where we’re going to be.”

Luke Walsh

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