Efforts to give North East firms a slice of the UK's lucrative wind energy market have come under threat from a EU case alleging "discriminatory trade practices".
The EU has petitioned the World Trading Organisation, saying the UK's subsidy support for green energy projects under the Contracts for Difference scheme violates WTO rules that imports must be able to compete on an equal footing with domestic products.
Many North East firms - including those supplying offshore oil and gas projects as well as renewables - have long called for the Government to do more to ensure UK firms secure contracts, and one prominent supplier in the region says the Government's move has provided UK firms a "fair crack of the whip".
