Britain will need 12,500 wind farms to satisfy EU targets

A rapid and vast expansion of renewable energy is on the way in Britain to help with the fight against climate change, it was revealed yesterday.

In a mere dozen years, the amount of UK electricity generated by renewable technologies such as wind, wave and tidal power will have to reach nearly half the national total, under ambitious plans put forward by the European Commission in Brussels.
The remarkable eight-fold expansion, from today’s 5 per cent to about 40 per cent by 2020, or even more, represents a true energy revolution comparable in scale to the arrival of North Sea oil.

Most of it will have to be delivered by wind energy, especially offshore, as wind is the most developed technology available.

The number of wind turbines on land in Britain is likely to grow from just under 2,000 now to 5,000, according to the British Wind Energy Association. But the really substantial increase will be in offshore wind, with turbines installed in the seas around Britain’s coasts likely to increase from just under 150, to about 7,500.

Meeting the target will also increase pressure on the Government to go ahead with the controversial tidal barrage across the Severn estuary, which is opposed by some conservationists on the grounds that it may damage valuable and protected wildlife sites.

Independent