There is a good news story in East Ayrshire, and those do not come along often enough. SD Wind Energy, one of Scotland’s original wind turbine manufacturers, has secured funding to upgrade its manufacturing facility and is eyeing ambitious international growth. The company, which traces its roots back to 1980 when it was founded by Ayrshire born Gordon Proven, has installed more than 8,500 wind turbines in over 70 countries.
The numbers alone are impressive. SD Wind’s turbines operate in some of the world’s most extreme environments, from offshore production platforms to the Princess Elizabeth Research Station in Antarctica. Japan, Alaska, the Falkland Islands. These are not ornamental garden windmills. They are serious industrial equipment built to withstand whatever nature throws at them.
The company, owned by Japanese renewable energy firm SD Green since 2018, has secured an unspecified amount of funding from Allica Bank to invest in automation machinery and upgrade its manufacturing systems. The goal is to boost output and future proof the Scottish facility while supporting job creation and skills development.
Chief executive Toshiro Urushitani said: “We’ve always had the technical knowledge and ambition to grow. What we needed to unlock this next step was investment to modernise the business and move it forward. Allica was the catalyst.”
Beyond wind, SD Wind is diversifying into solar and hybrid energy solutions and installing solar panels at its Scottish facility as a live demonstration site. The company is focusing particularly on further expansion in North America following strong results there in the past year. New roles requiring modern engineering, digital, and data led skills will be created locally.
Scotland’s renewable energy sector does not always get the credit it deserves. While politicians debate targets and strategies, companies like SD Wind have been quietly building, exporting, and creating jobs for over four decades. That is the kind of track record that speaks louder than any green energy pledge from Holyrood.
