Off-shore wind could power every home in the UK by 2020, says government

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/26/wind-power-renewables

Off-shore wind could power every home in the UK by 2020, says government

Another 5,000-7,000 wind turbines could generate enough electricity by next decade, concludes energy department study

Juliette Jowit
guardian.co.uk, Monday 26 January 2009 18.02 GMT

Off-shore wind power could generate enough electricity to supply every home in the UK by the end of the next decade, the government announced yesterday.

The Department for Energy and Climate Change study concluded that http://www.decc.gov.uk/whats-new/index.htm">another 5,000-7,000 wind turbines could be built off the coast by 2020, generating 25 GW of energy, equivalent to 25 large coal-fired power stations. The new capacity would be on top of 8GW already being built or in planning, making a total of 33GW.

The results of the year-long research into the geology, birds and marine life goes even further than the Carbon Trust, a company set up by government to help businesses reduce carbon emissions, which last year said the UK could build a total 29GW of off-shore wind.

However, the announcement was clouded by claims from the energy company E.ON that the economics of what is the UK's biggest current off-shore wind project, the London Array off the coast of Kent and Essex, were "on a knife edge".

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