A sea change: the wind farm revolution (UK)

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http://environment.independent.co.uk/green_living/article3047623.ece

Giant turbines are rapidly becoming a feature of the landscape. And now a wave of applications is poised to make Britain the world leader in offshore wind power generation. But there's one hurdle in the way of this breakthrough for renewable energy: bureaucracy. Ian Herbert reports

For those who have grown accustomed to a windswept life on some of Britain's more exposed coastlines, the presence of the free, limitless energy supply in their midst is probably hard to appreciate. But the potential fuel bonanza provided by wind was underlined yesterday when the British Energy Association said that Britain could, within 12 months, overtake Denmark as the world leader in offshore wind power generation.

The UK's projected wind energy output was boosted this week by the approval of the London Array project in the Thames Estuary. It will generate more electricity than any offshore plant in the world and Britain is now well on its way to having well over half of the world's offshore wind power plants currently in construction.

Offshore projects, more appealing to those who believe land-based turbines are a blot on the landscape, are avoiding some of the local resistance from planners which have long bedevilled onshore schemes. With developers eyeing three main strategic sites in England – the Greater Wash, the Thames Estuary and north-west England – several projects are expected to come online in the next few years. The offshore projects currently planned, together with those already in operation, could supply a total of 20 gigawatts of clean electricity, amounting to 17 per cent of the UK's total electricity supply.

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