UK: A revolution on the horizon: 7,000 more wind turbines

In the next 12 years, 7,000 wind turbines will spring up across the hills and around the coasts of Britain, in a
The aim, set out in a consultation document that will lead to a formal new strategy, is to cut down the greenhouse gas emissions from conventional power stations that are causing climate change, reduce Britain’s reliance on foreign energy supplies, and meet the demanding climate target agreed by EU leaders last year, of providing 20 per cent of Europe’s total energy use from renewable sources by 2020.

Britain’s share of this works out at a 15 per cent renewable energy target, split between electricity, heating and transport, with electricity bearing the lion’s share: between 30 and 35 per cent of UK power will need to be renewable by the target date, compared with 4.5 per cent today.

The investment programme and timetable needed to achieve this in a mere 12 years are demanding, and comment was split yesterday between environmentalists and renewable energy suppliers, who were delighted, and more cautious commentators who questioned whether such a technical undertaking was possible in the time scale.

For example, hitting the targets means at least trebling the current scale of wind-farm construction, adding 4,000 more onshore turbines to the 2,000 already in place, and installing 3,000 turbines in the sea, at a rate of two every three days between now and 2020, Christmas and bank holidays not excepted. Questions were raised as to whether or not Britain has the manufacturing capacity, or the number of engineers necessary to carry out the installations.

The Government said it could be done. John Hutton, (ultimately responsible for energy) and the Energy minister, Malcolm Wicks, all affirmed their commitment to meet the targets, while accepting how challenging they were.

Independent