The study shows that the UK is followed by Denmark (854 MW), the Netherlands (249 MW), Belgium (195 MW) and Sweden (164 MW). Germany, Ireland, Finland and Norway have a further 145 MW between them. Commenting on the results, RenewableUK, the country's leading renewable energy trade association, has hailed the results as more evidence that the offshore wind sector is on track to deliver significant economic benefits, as well as renewable electricity to consumers.
"The UK's offshore wind roll out is continuing at full speed. Last week the first turbines at Walney and Greater Gabbard have started delivering electricity to the grid. Once completed these two offshore wind farms will take the UK over the 2 gigawatt (GW) mark. We now need to ensure that we are best poised to capture the full benefits such a massive infrastructure project offers, including increased employment and business activity," said Peter Madigan, RenewableUK Head of Offshore Renewables.
EWEA's report states that the current installed offshore wind power capacity now supplies the equivalent of 2.9 million average EU households with electricity, comparable with the amounts of power consumed by the cities Berlin and Brussels together, from a total of 1,136 offshore wind turbines.
"We should ensure that new UK-based factories are supplying the turbines for those 19,000 MW of consented wind farms and beyond. This is a once in a generation opportunity and there is no reason why, given the right policy framework, we shouldn't stay on top of the offshore league", concluded Madigan.
With top turbine manufacturers such as Siemens and Gamesa already announcing plans to establish such factories, usually in areas that have been hit hard by the recent recession, it is hoped that offshore wind will go some way to alleviating unemployment problems in these areas.
Comprehensive employment study due for release
Indeed, at the beginning of February, RenewableUK will publish the UK’s most comprehensive study ever conducted into employment figures and future trends for the wind energy industry. The study has been commissioned by the association from The Institute for Employment Research of Warwick University and Cambridge Econometrics and is expected to include details of a significant jump in full-time employment in the wind energy sector from 2008/9 – 2009/10, against the trend towards increasing unemployment in the UK as a whole.
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