Offshore Wind

Hot on the heels of Germany’s ambitious renewable energy plans, the Danish government went even further and announced last week that they plan to get half of their country’s total electricity requirement from renewable sources by 2020 and 100% of total energy, including electricity, heating, industry and transport, by 2050.

Wind power in the UK has just been given a massive shot in the arm with several large-scale new offshore projects in the pipeline. The Crown Estate - which is the lucky owner of the seabed around the British Isles - is awarding contracts for a vast programme of wind farm construction which will significantly improve our renewable energy capacity, not to mention creating thousands of jobs.

Offshore wind - 3,500 new turbines by 2020?

Although the PM has taken a few verbal pastings from us over the past few months on key climate issues like airport expansion and new coal-fired power stations, in a new speech today he did much to redeem himself by announcing an ambitious plan to ensure Britain generates 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

To be sure, the government has promised as much in the past and failed to deliver, but there seemed to be something different about today's Renewable Energy Strategy Consultation - some meat on the bones which indicated that the plan might just be more than empty rhetoric. The government is consulting on ambitious plans designed to allow the UK to meet its share of an overall EU target to generate 20 per cent of energy (electricity, heat and transport) from renewables within 12 years.

off-shore wind farm

The future is looks brighter from Swansea bay, the Scarweather Sands offshore wind farm has made it over the last remaining hurdle in the Welsh Assembly and the project can go ahead without delay.

Assembly members blocked last minute Tory efforts to force another debate on the wind farm, and opponents of the clean energy project have run out of options to try to defeat the proposal.

Although opponents claimed the farm sitting three miles off the coast would be an eyesore, the wind farm will prove to be a boon to the local tourist industry. In a survey carried out last summer, 96% of visitors questioned said they were more likely or just as likely to return to the Swansea Bay resort of Porthcawl if the turbines go up.