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Wind power supply to be boosted
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The government has announced plans for a huge increase in offshore wind power.
Up to 7,000 new turbines are hoped to be built by 2020, trebling the amount of power to be generated by wind farm projects currently under development.
The Crown Estate, which owns the UK seabed, has agreed to invest up to 50% of the cost of obtaining planning consent for wind farm sites.
It is hoped the scheme will see the delivery of up to 25 gigawatts of electricity by wind power in 12 years.
Energy firms will in due course be invited to bid for sites to develop wind farm sites, earmarked by the Crown Estate and the Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR).
Central strategy
The rapid development of offshore wind capacity is central to the delivery of the UK’s share of the EU target of providing 20% of its energy requirements through renewable resources by 2020.
Peter Carney, offshore programme delivery director at the British Wind Energy Association, told the BBC that it was hoped the increased wind power would cater for all UK households’ electricity requirements in the next 12 years.
“The government has committed to challenging carbon targets and wind energy is the only renewable technology that can deliver the required quantity by the required timescales,” said Rob Hastings, the Crown Estate’s director of marine estates.
Malcolm Wicks, minister for energy, said the growth of wind energy was already a “real success” in the UK.
He hoped that the next phase of expansion would “provide developers with confidence to make investments much earlier on, like signing grid connection agreements or ordering turbines”.
“We are working to reduce other barriers such as radar, shipping, grid access and infrastructure issues. We will be consulting in the summer to drive this forward even further to achieve our renewable energy targets,” he added.
While offshore wind farms have been welcomed by some green groups, others have been concerned about the consequences of wildlife, spoiling coastal landscapes and the interruption of shipping routes.
Royal Dutch Shell recently withdrew from a project that was set to become the world’s largest wind farm in favour of investing in renewable energy in the US.
4 June 2008
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