Just as the conflict between the United States and Iran was tense and the global energy crisis broke out, the British government announced to the world that Chinese wind turbines were highly dangerous and banned the British government from purchasing Chinese wind power equipment.
At a time when the world is in an energy crisis and European and some Asian countries are preparing to use new energy sources to provide security redundancy for their national energy sources, what is the purpose of the British government in doing this? Is it really for national security, or is there some ulterior motive?
A "ban farce" without evidence
On March 25, the British government suddenly announced that after a "highest level national security assessment", it determined that Chinese wind turbines had "potential interference risks" and directly halted all local projects using Chinese wind power equipment. Mingyang Intelligent's Scottish full industry chain base, which had been prepared for more than half a year, was also rumored to have been "vetoed." As soon as the news came out, the stock price of Mingyang Intelligent A shares fell to the limit the next day.
It's funny to say that the UK is shouting about "security risks" but can't provide any evidence. The so-called "assessment" is simply fabricated out of thin air.
Mingyang Intelligent issued an emergency announcement on March 27, stating that as of now, it has not received a formal rejection reply from the British government at all, and communication is still ongoing.
You must know that this project is not a trivial project. It is Mingyang Smart’s first tens of billions of overseas investments since its listing. It is planned to be constructed in three phases. The first batch of production will be completed by the end of 2028. It will bring a large number of jobs and industrial chain dividends to Scotland. The UK did not take advantage of the benefits, but actively turned it away.
On March 13, the United Kingdom just announced that it would cancel import tariffs on 33 wind power components from April 1, and the tax rates on core components such as blades and cables will be directly reduced to 0. The purpose is to accelerate the installation of offshore wind power in the North Sea and relieve energy pressure.
While asking for a price reduction for wind power components, while banning the world's most competitive Chinese equipment, this contradictory operation is incomprehensible.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also immediately stated that it opposed the British generalization of the concept of national security and the politicization of economic and trade issues. After all, Chinese wind power equipment has already passed the safety certification of most countries around the world, and has been operating smoothly in dozens of countries for many years without any so-called "safety issues." This wave of operations in the UK is clearly for protection in the name of "safety."
Analysts believe that there may be three reasons why the UK did this.
The first one is to follow the trend of the United States and join in the excitement of "de-Sinicization". New energy is now the core track of competition between global powers. In 2025, the world's newly installed wind power capacity will be 169GW, and China will contribute 126GW, accounting for 74.6%.
The United States has been suppressing China's new energy resources. As the "little brother" of the Western camp, the United Kingdom naturally has to follow suit.
Speaking of this, I suddenly remembered that when I was a child, I followed the older children and made noises. I knew I didn't want to do it, but I had to follow others. In the end, I was the one who suffered the loss. This is probably the mentality in the UK now.
Furthermore, it is to protect the weak local wind power industry and cover up its own shortcomings. The UK's local wind power industry chain is imperfect, with high production costs and slow technology iterations. Even its own wind power projects rely on imported equipment. Once Chinese wind power equipment enters the British market in large quantities, local British companies will have no power to fight back.
Another key reason is to divert domestic conflicts. The UK has long set strict carbon neutrality and offshore wind power installation targets, but the reality is that the economy is in recession, debt is high, public debt accounts for 98.3% of GDP, finances are so tight that even emission reduction plans have to be postponed, and the advancement of wind power projects has repeatedly lagged behind. Unable to find a solution, they regard China Wind Power as a "scapegoat" and blame all their own mistakes on Chinese equipment.
This wave of British operations will not damage the foundation of Chinese wind power at all, but will put itself in trouble.
Against the background of the current global economic downturn and the imminent energy transformation, the UK's ban on the purchase of Chinese wind power is a "self-internal consumption" of the UK's own development and is also very short-sighted.
The reason why China leads the world in wind power does not rely on luck, but on decades of technological accumulation and deep cultivation of the industrial chain.
Britain's predicament is essentially a contradiction between its own insufficient capabilities and mismatched ambitions. It wants to achieve energy transformation, but it does not have a complete industrial chain and sufficient funds and talents; it wants to suppress China, but it cannot do without the support of the global wind power supply chain; it wants to follow the United States, but it has to face the pressure of domestic energy shortages.
