The United Kingdom’s renewable energies plan

After India’s plan on climate change last week, the United Kingdom announced  a plan due expand in an important way the use of renewable energies.

Up to 7,000 wind turbines – including 3,000 offshore – will be installed by 2020 in order to multiply by a factor ten the importance of these energies in the UK energy mix.

This will cost up to 100 billion £ (126 billion Euros or 198 billion USD) over the next twelve years and is due to create up to 160,000 jobs. A most interesting prospect.

According to the article by the Agence France Presse :

Setting out the London government’s plans for greater investment in and reliance on renewables, Brown envisaged Britain’s coastal waters being turned “into the equivalent for wind power of what the Gulf of Arabia is for the oil industry”.

This year, Britain would pass Denmark as the country with the world’s highest operating offshore wind capacity of more than 400 megawatts, he told a low carbon economy summit in London.

“By 2020 we will have installed around 14 gigawatts — that is around 3,000 offshore wind turbines, meeting up to 50 percent of our renewable electricity,” he added, stating he wanted Britain to be a leader in “clean energy.”

“The North Sea has now passed its peak of oil and gas supply — but it will now embark on a new transformation into the global centre of the offshore wind industry,” he added.

There will have to be more windfarms onshore too, despite criticism including from those who say they blight the landscape, he said.

A government blueprint announced later set out plans for 7,000 new wind turbines — 4,000 onshore and 3,000 offshore — greater support for “green” energy and allowing renewables into the national power grid.

Brown also renewed his commitment to greater use of wind, wave and nuclear power to move Britain away from its reliance on oil and fossil fuels, amid spiralling prices, in order to secure its future energy supplies and meet carbon reduction targets.

Currently about eight percent of Britain’s total energy supply comes from low carbon sources — two percent from renewables and six percent from nuclear.

An interesting prospects that exemplifies what I was reporting in a previous article on the boom forecast in the renewable energies industry.

To be partial, I have to mention the fears of the effects of more wind turbines in the British countryside.

It is also worth noting to infer this article that the government of Gordon Brown announced previously a plan to build new nuclear plants.

Most unfortunately there are no plans yet on energy efficiency and conservation in this country… I do hope it will come soon as the UK is – to me – going well on its climate change mitigation plan.

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2 thoughts on “The United Kingdom’s renewable energies plan”

  1. Hey Meryn, nice to see you drop by and thanks for your comment.

    I didn’t know about this scenario and never heard about this project.

    I know Norway and other small countries want to turn carbon neutral but have no idea if other NGOs have similar plans.

    I had a short look at the website… well, it is always the same thing : we can do everything we want with renewables…. Personally I am not so sure for the reasons I wrote there and there.

    Enjoy !

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