On Friday, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband MP, toured the site which houses Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) to see the scale of work following a recent award of £1.5million from his department to expand operations.

Mr Miliband said: "It's amazing to hear about and see how the business has grown from 11 employees to 900.

"What's fantastic is that a local company in the area is offering the wider opportunity to really create lots of jobs – real jobs for the future.

"It's an amazing success story here in Methil."


The Energy Secretary was also accompanied by Glenrothes MSP Lindsay Roy and Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Claire Baker.

Mr Roy explained: "I was delighted to invite Mr Miliband here to see first hand the excellent work going on at BiFab.

"I welcome the £1.5m awarded to BiFab from Mr Miliband's department. This will assist the company reach its target of 100 turbine jackets a year by 2011.

"It is great to have BiFab at the forefront of renewables developments in the UK.

"BiFab is a key player in providing jobs in our area.

In particular, the number of apprenticeships created at Methil and Burntisland is really encouraging. These are quality jobs, and are just what we need."

Ms Baker added:"I think it's really good to see Labour commitment to industry in the area.

"They (BiFab) are doing tremendous work and in terms of how they are promoting the renewable energy sector."

Last month Lord Hunt, the Energy and Climate Change Minister visited the Energy Park to announce a new round of offshore licensing to allow oil and gas exploration in UK waters.