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10 December 2007 - The British Government has approved thousands of offshore wind turbines. Cabinet minister and business secretary John Hutton said today that he wants offshore windmills to power all British homes by the year 2020 and in order to achieve this the British coastline will be opened up to thousands more of the massive wind turbines.
The UK is aiming for 20 per cent of its power to come from renewables by 2020. Just 2 per cent of Britain's power comes from renewable sources, and wind is the source for around 2.2 GW.
Hutton admitted that it is going to change the coastline, and that there is no way of making that shift to a low carbon technology without there being change and without that change being visible and evident to people.
Up to 7000 turbines, two per mile of coast, could be installed to boost wind produced energy 60-fold by 2020.
"The UK has some of the best offshore wind resource in the world, a long history of design, installation and operational expertise in the offshore environment and the skills and manufacturing capability to transfer to this exciting new sector. Next year we will overtake Denmark as the country with the most offshore wind capacity," said Hutton
The Conservative Opposition say it is better the windmills are out at sea rather than on land close to the coastline.
The first tranche of UK offshore wind farms began in 2001, followed by a second wave two years later in the Thames Estuary, the Greater Wash and the North West.
Some 8 GW of capacity could be up and running by 2014, including the 1 GW London Array, the biggest offshore wind farm in the world.
Maria McCaffery, chief executive of the British Wind and Energy Association, welcomed the prospect of a big increase in the UK's renewable energy capacity saying: "This is a decisive step towards delivering Britain's share of the EU 2020 renewables target."
But the BWEA identified a potential problem with the supply of turbines. Rapidly growing demand in recent years has left suppliers unable to cope, and with year-long backlogs in some cases. High commodity prices have also pushed up the cost of turbines.
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