The UK has overtaken Denmark, capacity 423 MW, to become the world's number one for wind farms built offshore, with 597MW fully constructed. The achievement has been made possible after building work finished at Centrica's Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms near Skegness.
According to the UK prime minister speaking at the British Wind Energy Association's conference in October the the UK now gets 3 GW of electricity capacity from wind power.
Mike O'Brien, minister of state at the new Department of Energy and Climate Change made the announcement whilst visiting the wind farms off England's east coast.
Mr O'Brien said: "We are now getting 3 GW of our electricity capacity from wind power. Offshore wind makes up 20% of that capacity and the wind farms I am visiting today are the ones that have made the UK the world's number one for offshore wind power, knocking Denmark off the top spot."
"Offshore wind is hugely important to help realise the Government's ambition to dramatically increase the amount of energy from renewable sources. This is just the start. There are already five more offshore wind farms under construction that will add a further 938 megawatts to our total by the end of next year. We are also assessing plans to increase the total by 25 GW in the future. That's enough electricity for every home in the country."
"This will ultimately help in the fight against climate change and further secure the UK's energy supplies - two of the goals of the new Department of Energy and Climate Change."
Centrica CEO, Sam Laidlaw, said: "Not only is Lynn and Inner Dowsing the biggest wind development in the world, it represents a major milestone on the journey to secure the UK's future energy needs. It's pleasing that our wind farms help the UK reach the top ranking in off shore wind power in the world but importantly it underlines the significant investment to supply our British Gas customers with renewable electricity in the years ahead."
The news that the UK is now the world leader in wind power follows today's announcement by the Carbon Trust to help accelerate offshore wind power in the UK. The Carbon Trust will work with five major energy companie, on a new £30m initiative to cut the costs of energy from offshore wind by 10%.
Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust said: "The UK has an amazing opportunity to be the dominant global player. Our research shows that by 2020 the UK market could represent almost half of the global market for offshore wind power. To make that happen it will be critical to improve the current economics of offshore wind power. By working with five major offshore players, the Carbon Trust is aiming to reduce costs, increase performance and improve the economic viability of offshore wind farms."
•Constructed UK offshore wind farms: Blyth (4MW), North Hoyle (60MW), Scroby Sands (60MW), Kentish Flats (90MW), Barrow (90MW), Burbo Bank (90MW), Beatrice (10MW) and Lynn and Inner Dowsing (194MW). Offshore windfarms under construction: Robin Rigg (180MW), Rhyl Flats (90MW), Gunfleet Sands (164MW) and Greater Gabbard (504MW). All except Greater Gabbard will come online by the end of 2009.
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