Steve Quayle News Alerts

July 14, 2003
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor

A huge expansion of the Government's renewable energy programme involving the construction of enough offshore wind farms to power 15 per cent of British homes will be announced today.

Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, will invite firms to build up to 6,000 megawatts of wind farm capacity in three coastal regions of the UK. The ambitious programme could involve investment of up to £6bn and create an estimated 30,000 jobs.

Ms Hewitt is expected to announce a new round of licensing to build windfarms in the Thames Estuary, off the Norfolk coast and in the Irish Sea between North Wales and the Solway Firth.

The dramatic expansion plan is expected to result in offshore wind farms generating 10 times the amount of electricity currently supplied by onshore wind farms. The UK currently has about 600 megawatts of onshore wind capacity and although the industry is growing quickly, its development has been held back by planning obstacles.

A first round of licensing carried out in 2001 by Crown Estates, which owns the rights to the seabed around Britain, resulted in 17 sites being selected for offshore wind farms. So far construction has been consented on seven of them and the Government has provided £62m in grant aid. There is speculation that the new Energy Minister Stephen Timms will give the go-ahead for an eighth windfarm at Burbo bank off the Merseyside coast which is being developed by Seascape Energy.

Britain's first large scale offshore wind farm, North Hoyle, off the North Wales coast, is due to start generating power early next year. The £70m development which will produce 60 megawatts of power from 30 giant turbines the height of the London Eye is being built by National Wind Power with the aid of a £10m government grant.

Consent has also been given for further wind farms on Rhyl Flats also in North Wales and Scroby Sands off the Norfolk coast, which is being developed by Powergen.

In May the then Energy Minister Brian Wilson, gave the go-ahead for a further two offshore wind farms - one in the Kentish Flats in the Thames Estuary and the other off the coast of Barrow. The two windfarms will have 60 turbines and construction is due to begin early next year.

In the first round of licensing the Government imposed a limit of 30 turbines per development. The second licensing round beginning today will have no such restriction.

The Government has set itself a target of generating 10 per cent of Britain's electricity from renewable sources by 2010. The Energy White Paper, published earlier this year, adopted a more ambitious "aspiration" of raising this to 20 per cent by 2020 after concluding that new nuclear power stations were not viable. The burden of the renewables programme will have to be met by more wind farms.

The expansion of renewables is designed to enable Britain to meet its wider target of cutting emissions of greenhouse gases by 60 per cent by 2050.

An opinion poll being released today by the British Wind Energy Association shows that wind farms are supported by three quarters of the population as a way of helping Britain meet its environmental targets.

Tom Foulkes, director general of the Institute of Civil Engineers, welcomed the expansion of offshore wind power. But he cautioned: "We must not lose sight of the fact that the wind only blows a third of the time and cannot ever be expected to supply the major proportion of the nation's energy requirements."

Http://News.independent.co.uk/Business/News/Story.jsp?Story=424199
Tom Foulkes, Director General Of The Institute Of Civil Engineers, Welcomed The Expansion Of Offshore Wind Power. But He Cautioned: "We Must Not Lose Sight Of The Fact That The Wind Only Blows A Third Of The Time And Cannot Ever Be Expected To Supply The Major Proportion Of The Nation's Energy Requirements."

Http://News.independent.co.uk/Business/News/Story.jsp?Story=424199