The day offshore wind power came of age in the UK
source: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/michael-mccarthy-the-day-offshore-wind...
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Think of a big power station, a 1,000 megawatt job that can provide the electricity for a major city. Think how enormous it is, visible for miles around with its giant chimneys and cooling towers. Now think of 32 of them. Now think of 32 of them out at sea.
That’s one way of envisaging the real significance of the new programme to build offshore windfarms around the coasts of Britain, announced today by the Government.
Offshore wind has hitherto seemed like a novelty, almost a curiosity, with a few turbines here and a few turbines there, their spinning white blades spottable on the horizon from the odd seaside promenade.
This announcement envisages 6,000 of them, and maybe more, bigger than ever and sprouting from the water in gigantic windfarms in the North Sea, the Channel and the Irish Sea - generating a total of 32 gigawatts of capacity (a gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts).
Overnight it changes offshore wind from a novelty to a serious part of Britain’s energy generation, ultimately up there with coal and gas; you might say today was the day offshore wind power came of age in the UK.
That’s one way of envisaging the real significance of the new programme to build offshore windfarms around the coasts of Britain, announced today by the Government.
Offshore wind has hitherto seemed like a novelty, almost a curiosity, with a few turbines here and a few turbines there, their spinning white blades spottable on the horizon from the odd seaside promenade.
This announcement envisages 6,000 of them, and maybe more, bigger than ever and sprouting from the water in gigantic windfarms in the North Sea, the Channel and the Irish Sea - generating a total of 32 gigawatts of capacity (a gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts).
Overnight it changes offshore wind from a novelty to a serious part of Britain’s energy generation, ultimately up there with coal and gas; you might say today was the day offshore wind power came of age in the UK.
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