United Kingdom: Grand wind-power plans far from assured

DOZENS of wind farms are in the pipeline and manufacturers are queuing up to build turbines in the UK, attracted by positive noises from the new coalition government and existing incentives

But long-term financing for the country's massive offshore wind-power programme remains far from assured. An ambitious plan to provide the UK with more than 40 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity over the next two decades is gathering momentum: 32 GW of that is due to come from the winners of the government's Round 3 tender, the results of which were announced in January (PE 2/10 p29). While the original aim was for this extra capacity to be operational by 2020, few in the industry believe it can all be built, virtually from scratch, in a decade. Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), a consultancy, estimates the UK could realistically expect to have around 18 GW of offshore wind capacity