One of the UK's leading developers of wind turbine technology has secured a major multi-million pound order to provide turbine towers to two projects in Scotland and Wales.

South Wales-based Mabey Bridge will today confirm that it has inked a deal with German wind turbine manufacturer Nordex to provide 35 turbine towers, each measuring between 65 and 70 metres.

The turbines will be deployed at the planned 42MW Pant-Y-Wal wind farm near Rhondda in South Wales and the 52.5MW Baillie wind farm near Thurso on the north coast of Scotland.

Financial details of the contract were not disclosed, although Mabey Bridge said that the order meant the company would move to 24 hours a day operation at its recently opened wind turbine tower manufacturing facility. It added that 170 staff would work on fulfilling the contract with around 45 new staff being appointed.

Mabey Bridge UK director Alex Smale said the deal represented a breakthrough for the company.

"2011 was a challenging year for the wind turbine industry overall, with the latest available figures putting the number of new towers installed onshore in the UK last year at fewer than 250," he said. "Against this backdrop, the signing of a 35-tower deal with Nordex is a real boost for all the staff working at Mabey Bridge. We are very excited by the market currently and expect to make further announcements soon."

The announcement comes just days after the wind energy industry confirmed that it had reached the milestone of having 6GW of wind energy capacity installed.

Charles Hendry, Minister of State for Energy, hailed the landmark deal as further evidence of the UK's position as one of the world's leading wind energy markets.

"I congratulate Mabey Bridge on winning this multi-million pound contract to provide turbine towers in Wales and in Scotland," he said. "This company's success story is one I want to see replicated up and down the UK.

"In a week where our installed wind capacity has passed the six gigawatt mark, this is yet more evidence that the UK is a leading place to do business in renewable energy."