Brown unveils £100bn renewable energy plan

Thousands of new wind turbines could be built across the UK as part of a £100bn investment in renewable energy that could create hundreds of thousands of new "green collar" jobs, Gordon Brown announced today.

The prime minister unveiled what he described as a "green revolution" and "the most dramatic change in energy policy since the advent of nuclear power".

He wants to build up Britain's clean power supply in order to reach the EU-imposed target of producing 15% of the country's energy from renewable sources by 2020. This will require £100bn of investment from the private sector, which the government will encourage with financial incentives due to be announced later by the business secretary, John Hutton.

In a speech to an energy summit at the Tate Modern art gallery in central London, Brown said that the North Sea, which has passed its peak in terms of oil and gas supplies, will be turned into "the equivalent for wind power of what the Gulf of Arabia is for oil". Wind turbines will also be built inland, but with sensitivity towards local communities...