SOUTHAMPTON Port stands a chance of benefiting from a multimillion pound fund aimed at helping docks adapt to building and maintaining giant wind turbines, Energy Secretary and Hampshire MP Chris Huhne said yesterday.

Mr Huhne, Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh, spoke out after Chancellor George Osborne announced the Government was putting aside more than £200m “for the development of low carbon technologies including offshore wind technology and manufacturing at ports sites”.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change said more details – including the proportion of the fund that will go to ports – will be revealed in the coming weeks.

• Government announces £81bn cuts
• Council bracing for job cuts
• Schools hoping for slice of rebuilding cash
• Fire chiefs draw up list of savings
• Hampshire MP slams government cuts
• Cuts will 'bring UK back from the brink'
• Police 'will protect frontline'
• City protest against cuts
• Union slams police cuts
• Spending Review FAQ - HM Treasury
• Watch the speech live on parliament.tv

It is hoped the fund will kick-start investment in ports that could service and help build the large number of offshore wind farms due to be constructed in the UK by 2020 – creating an estimated 50,000 jobs.

Mr Huhne told the Daily Echo it was “certainly possible” that Southampton port could benefit from the funding, although facilities in the North East and Scotland were favourites to gain because of their proximity to most proposed wind farm sites.

The MP said the prospects for the South to take advantage of the push for renewable energy more generally were significant.

Daily Echo: For a video of the top stories in today's Daily Echo, click the front page.

He said: “We used to have Vestas in the South, with a factory on the Isle of Wight, and it’s not impossible that there will be a revival of interest in that.

“There are real opportunities in Southampton because there is already so much expertise in the area, with offshore oil and gas, and the National Oceanography Centre.

“There is going to be a massive roll out in offshore wind and a lot of people active in the area are potentially looking around [for investment opportunities]."

In the South, Dutch energy company Eneco has already won a bid to install and operate a 500-megawatt wind farm to the west of the Isle of Wight, in an area stretching from the western end of the Needles to Lyme Bay and Associated British Ports, which runs Southampton Port, is also said to be making efforts to gear up for offshore wind.