www.businessweek.com
April 23, 2010
April 23 (Bloomberg) - - U.K, offshore wind power now has 1GW of generating capacity after projects by E.ON AG and DONG Energy A/S began producing electricity, the industry group RenewableUK said. The "landmark" figure - - enough to power 653,000 homes - - was reached this week when E.ON's Robin Rigg and DONG Energy's Gunfleet Sands wind parks started operating, the group said today in an e-mailed statement. "In the first quarter of this year alone, $500 million pounds ($768 million) of private investment has been invested directly into offshore wind in the U.K.," RenewableUK Chief Executive Officer Maria McCaffery said in the statement.
The U.K, in 2008 overtook Denmark to become the leading nation in terms of installed offshore wind power. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government, facing an election on May 6, is betting on the technology to cut emissions of CO2 and meet European Union renewable energy targets. Brown's ruling Labour Party and the two main opposition groups, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, have all pledged measures to boost offshore wind production should they win the general election.
General Electric Co, last month said it would build a new plant in Britain to make offshore wind turbines, and Clipper Windpower Plc in February began building a factory to make offshore turbine blames. Siemens AG is also studying whether to build a new wind-power equipment facility in the U.K. Farms with a further 4GWs of capacity have planning permission or are being built, RenewableUK said. In January, the government awarded licenses for 32,200 MWs of projects to companies including Centrica Plc, RWE AG and Statoil ASA.
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