Wind turbines ‘every half mile’ round coast

8:33am Monday 10th December 2007

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EVERY household in Britain could be powered by offshore wind farms under major expansion plans announced by the Government.

Up to 7,000 huge turbines could be installed around the UK's coastline to boost the wind energy produced 30-fold by 2020 - the equivalent of one turbine for every half mile of coastline.

Business Secretary John Hutton admitted the "step change"

would alter the face of the waters around the country.

But he insisted that tough choices had to made made to effect the shift to low-carbon power sources.

Speaking on BBC1's Politics Show, Mr Hutton said: "There is the potential, we believe, out there, using the resources that there are around the UK to generate maybe all of the electricity that households need from offshore wind sources.

"We should see whether we can maximise that potential because it's obviously in the nation's interest - in the world's interest - for us to make sure that more of our energy comes from clean sources."

At the moment, only two per cent of our power comes from renewables, and wind is the source for less than one gigawatt.

By 2020 the Government hopes that it could provide about 34 gigawatts - which using current technology would mean introducing 7,000 turbines.

But Mr Hutton would not give a specific number of windmills, saying that the next generation of turbines could be bigger and generate more energy.

Asked whether having so many wind farms around the coast was acceptable, Mr Hutton replied: "It is going to change our coastline, for sure.

"There's no way of making the shift to low-carbon technology without making a change and that change being visible.

"We've got a choice as a country whether we rise to the challenge or stick our head in the sand and hope climate change goes away. It is not going to go away."

Mr Hutton is due formally to announce the "next stage" in the expansion of offshore wind power at a conference in Berlin today.

The move will make a major contribution towards achieving the EU-wide target of renewables providing 20 per cent of energy by 2020, he said.

However, Mr Hutton stressed that Britain needed a range of clean sources of energy, including nuclear power.

"I do not want, in 20 years' time, to find that the question of whether the lights go on is down to some foreign government," he said.

Last night, there was a widespread welcome for the Government's proposals.

Shadow Business Secretary Alan Duncan offered backing for the plans. "We're an island nation - there's a lot of wind around," he said.

"We should use that offshore capacity for generating electricity that's clean and secure."

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven said the proposals amounted to a "wind energy revolution".

"If we are finally to exploit the massive energy resources we have available to us on this windy island, there will now need to be a revolution in thinking in Whitehall, where the energy dinosaurs have prevailed for too long," he said.

"We need the Government to guarantee premium prices for clean electricity so industry can take risks to get tens of thousands of turbines built and installed out at sea.

"And Labour needs to drop its obsession with nuclear power, which could only ever reduce emissions by about four per cent at some time in the distant future."

Nick Rau, of Friends of the Earth, said the news was extremely welcome.

"The potential power that could be generated by this industry is enormous," he said.

"Making Britain a world leader in this form of energy will create jobs, boost the economy and help put Britain at the forefront in the battle to combat climate change.

"Ministers must also develop forward-thinking strategies for cutting energy waste and developing other forms of renewable power."