The UK offshore wind power industry is expected to capture about 10% of the global sector by 2050 and employ up to 230,000 people in Britain, according to a new report released by the Carbon Trust.
Issued last Thursday, the report also found that offshore wind could represent a gross contribution to UK GDP generated by business of up to €11 billion a year, or €113 billion cumulatively between 2010 and 2050.
Wind power was the preferred technology for investments in the global clean energy sector last year, attracting €67 billion, says a new report issued earlier this week.
“Wind investment levels increased by 34% in 2010, and wind energy remains the leading recipient of clean energy investments,” according to the report, titled ‘Who’s winning the Clean Energy Race?’
“Investments in wind helped drive the addition of 40 GW of generating capacity and accounted for 48% of the annual clean energy investments in 2010.” continue reading »
A new Green Investment Bank worth €1.18 billion (£1 billion) will “tackle risk the market cannot currently finance”, allowing new types of investment in green infrastructure, UK Energy Minister Charles Hendry told Wind Directions magazine recently. The Bank is due to become operational by September 2012.
At the same time, the UK is considering moving away from the Renewables Obligation Certificate support scheme it has used so far for wind energy, and implementing a Feed-In Tariff.
The negative impacts of offshore wind power can be avoided altogether or mitigated through proper planning, people attending a panel session at the EWEA2011 Annual Event heard Thursday.
Dan Wilhelmsson of the Swedish Secretariat for Environmental Earth System Sciences added that the offshore wind power sector can even be positive for the local marine environment.
Wilhelmsson said a recent report he and others produced for the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources reviewed 32 different environmental issues associated with offshore wind and found eight required special attention.
“When we talk about the electricity sector, not the total energy consumption, but electricity, than I think by 2050 we’ll have 100% renewables in Europe. I think that is perfectly doable,” said EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard today at the EWEA 2011 Annual Event.
She was speaking at a press conference held straight after a panel discussion on a 100% renewables vision for 2050. The panel discussion was marked by heated debate on the role of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS).
