The UK has among the highest density of exploitable renewable energy resources in the world, and has the potential to become a global leader in both engineering development and energy production. The resources include wind (on both coasts); wave (mostly on the west coast); tidal stream (focussed inshore around headlands and in sounds such as Pentland Firth) and tidal range (particularly in the Severn and Mersey estuaries).

The estimated direct turnover for the industry from current generating capacity is £165 million and GVA is £50 million with additional indirect turnover from manufacturing and installation. Although the location of wind, wave and tidal resources is well understood, the location of economically viable renewable energy projects is constrained by a number of other technical factors, such as the capacity of national grid networks, sea conditions and other existing sea users like fisheries and shipping.

Wind farm maintenance

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Wave and tidal power in particular are fledgling industries with enormous potential and strong government support, aimed at helping prove these technologies and overcoming uncertainty around limited long-term investments in the current economic climate. They are being supported by test facilities such as the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney and the New and Renewable Energy Centre in north-eastern England. There is also some uncertainty around environmental pressures such as hydrodynamic changes, construction noise, and collisions by birds or marine mammals with devices that tend to be device and site-specific. However, these are being addressed by detailed monitoring programmes and coordinated research initiatives.

Figure 5.4 Projected delivery dates and capacity from Round 3 wind farm projects.

The rapid growth of this sector has been aided by governmental support for energy generation from renewables, involving financial investment and planning and policy initiatives that help to encourage much-needed private investment. The main driver is the EU 2008 integrated energy and climate change policy, according to which the UK must obtain at least 15% of its total energy needs from renewable energy sources by 2020. Targets are much higher than this in some parts of the UK, with Scotland aiming for 20% by 2020 and Northern Ireland 40% by 2025. The Welsh Assembly Government’s energy policy statement details the potential to produce more than twice as much renewable electricity as Wales consumes as a nation today by 2025. The extraction of energy from renewable sources lessens UK dependence on fossil fuel energy, which has much higher associated CO₂ emissions, and improves energy security by increasing the diversity of electricity supply.

By December 2009, there were ten offshore wind farms operating 228 turbines with a total installed capacity of 0.7 GW of electricity (two are small demonstrator projects). A further 1.7 GW of capacity was under construction; 4.9 GW had been consented, and about 9.9 GW was in planning and pre-planning processes across the UK. The total installed capacity from all these wind farms will be over 14 GW. This does not include Round 3 wind farms which may add more than 30 GW additional generating capacity (see Figure 5.4). There are strong targets to increase total capacity to 33 GW by 2020. Financial incentives such as the Renewables Obligation Certificates, the Scottish Government’s Saltire Prize and the Marine Renewables Deployment and Proving Funds will continue to provide support for the industry over this period.