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By BETH GARDINER
.c The Associated Press

LONDON (AP) - Britain announced a new commitment to wind power Monday, opening the way for enormous offshore turbine fields that the government said could eventually power up to one in six households.

The announcement was a major step forward toward Britain's goal of getting 10 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2010, part of Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan to confront the threat of global warming.

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt said offshore wind farms several miles off Britain's coast would be among the country's biggest new sources of clean power. Hydropower already has a prominent role in some parts of the country.

Hewitt said the government was opening three new offshore areas for development - along the coast of northwest England and north Wales, the Wash off eastern England, and the Thames Estuary in the southeast - and invited private companies to submit plans to build wind farms there. The sites will include up to 300 turbines each and most will be about five miles from land, she said.

Hewitt said the new farms would provide enough power for 3.5 million homes and were far more ambitious than the government's first round of approvals for wind power sites, in December 2000.

``We can make this work,'' Hewitt told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

The new wind farms should provide enough power for about one in six British households by 2010, helping meet the renewable target for that year, she said. The government hopes Britain will get 20 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2020.

Power companies were enthusiastic, Hewitt said, adding that manufacturing the needed turbines and then building and maintaining the farms would employ about 20,000 people.

``What they can see here is not just the scope for new green, clean energy - and we know that overwhelmingly is what the public want,'' she said. ``They can also see the scope for us to develop a new manufacturing industry in actually building the wind turbines and the power requirements.''

Developers seeking permission to build on the new sites must apply by October and the government hopes the farms will be under construction within the next few years.

Companies will have to fund the development themselves and make their money by selling electricity, but some may get government grants designated to boost the renewable sector, Hewitt's department said. Power companies here pay premium prices for electricity generated from renewable sources because the government requires them to seek it out.

Britain already has a number of onshore wind farms, but many in the industry say that because of the open space and high winds at sea, offshore sites hold more power-generating potential, although startup costs are higher. Farms constructed at sea generally include more and larger turbines than those on land.


 
07/14/03 08:58 EDT
   
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.