Forward View
The future of onshore and offshore wind power
Growth in the wind energy sector is attributable to a huge range of factors, including financial confidence, technological advancements, legislative support from local governments and increased public support and awareness, says David Blake.
El crecimiento del sector de la energía eólica es atribuible a un gran número de factores distintos, entre los que podemos destacar los avances tecnológicos, las ayudas de los gobiernos nacionales y el aumento del apoyo y concienciación del público en general, según David Blake.
Ein Wachstum auf dem Gebiet der Windenergie ist das Ergebnis mehrerer Faktoren, wie z. B. finanzielle Zufriedenheit, technologischer Fortschritt, Unterstützung von Behördenseite und eine ebenfalls wachsende Unterstützung und Zustimmung unter der Bevölkerung, so David Blake.
S
upport from the UK government recently made a shift from offshore to onshore wind development this month, as Lord Turner, chairman of Committee on Climate Change
(CCC), speaking on BBC Radio 4 proclaimed that the mix between onshore and offshore wind development needs to be more balanced in the UK. Tis comes at a time when talks surrounding cutbacks in offshore wind farm development scatter the media: “Te UK government should consider scaling back its ambitions for costly offshore wind power by 2020 and look elsewhere to meet its binding renewable energy targets at a lower cost to the consumer,” the CCC said in May. Meanwhile, RenewableUK the leading
professional association for the UK wind and marine renewables industries, warns against reducing the UK’s 2020 offshore wind targets in response to the recent CCC report, and instead suggests that offshore wind targets need to be increased rather than decreased: “If offshore wind
targets are reduced and development slowed, this in turn could hinder delivery of UK renewable targets and prevent the creation of up to 50 000 jobs in offshore wind over the next decade”, argues RenewableUK.
Energy from renewable sources Whichever way the wind blows the targets outlined by the European Parliament in 2008 state that the UK will be required to deliver 15 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. Soberingly, while these targets already provide an immense challenge, the UK will have to go far beyond them in the following decades, to achieve 30 per cent by 2030, which has been suggested by the CCC. In response to these targets, we are already seeing an increase in onshore wind farm development, with, already this month so far, Danish-owned company Vestas is applying for planning permission for a new plant in Kent to build turbines for the offshore wind industry.
www.engineerlive.com 7
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