Government's plans are blown off course

Apr 14 2009 By Laura Curoe

THE North East will miss out on thousands of jobs in the offshore wind industry unless ministers give greater support.

A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research said the United Kingdom must rapidly expand its offshore wind capacity or it would fail to meet the legally binding target of sourcing 15% of energy from renewables by 2020.

Although Britain has the biggest offshore wind capacity in the world, only 700 people are employed in the sector and most of the parts for the wind farms are made overseas.

The report from IPPR said the Government needed to be more proactive in establishing certainty in the domestic offshore wind market to encourage investment.

Blyth Harbour, in Northumberland, was the first British offshore wind farm. It will have the tallest wind turbine in the UK – three times the size of Nelson’s column – when the latest plans to replace its current wind farm are put in place. And with the region’s established engineering skills, particularly in the power industry and in the offshore sector, as well as its excellent natural resources, the North East’s reputation as a hub for renewable energy technology is growing.

As highlighted in The Journal in January, the North East is aiming to generate at least 10% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010, which equates to at least 454MW.

Northumberland in particular has a vital role to play in achieving the targets, with its own target of at least 212MW by 2010, the equivalent of 80-100 turbines.

But at the current pace of development, Northumberland is unlikely to achieve more than 40MW of renewable energy by the end of next year.

Measures suggested in the report include updating the grid infrastructure, with the Government underwriting investment, and targeting support companies making parts such as cabling, turbines, installation vessels and foundations to unblock bottlenecks in the supply chain.

Encouraging more youngsters to study subjects such as science, engineering and maths would improve the skills needed in the sector.

Matthew Lockwood, senior research fellow for IPPR, said: “Offshore wind has great potential for UK jobs but we risk being blown off course.”

Energy minister Mike O’Brien said the Government had increased support for renewables, and was working to ensure sufficient access to the grid.

PAGE TWO: Bosses on Teesside call for stronger government policy to be introduced.