Australia is ranked 93rd out of 133 monitored countries, and the lowest of any OECD nation, after decades of decline in manufacturing activity.

At this point, Australia does not have a purpose-built wind tower manufacturing facility to match rivals with enormous capacity.

Mr McKinna, who operates out of a converted particle board factory, says there’s no excuse for Australia not to be making wind towers at scale, particularly as global competition heats up.

The energy market operator says the surge in renewable energy generation expected by 2050 needs to be connected by more than 10,000km of new transmission lines and 25,000 transmission towers - each needing up to 60 tonnes of steel.

Geoff Crittenden, CEO of Weld Australia, said Australia does not have the sovereign manufacturing capability to make this a reality.