It didn’t get nearly as much coverage as it should have in North America, so it’s worth highlighting again that the U.K. government approved a plan last week to build up to 25,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by erecting up to 7,000 massive wind turbines within 11 ocean “zones” surrounding the British coastline. This ambitious 12-year plan has been criticized by some, but is generally supported by many environmental, wind and anti-wind groups in the United Kingdom. The government hopes that the early commitment will provide wind developers with confidence to make investments in the projects.

If the wind capacity is built, it would bring to 33,000 megawatts the total amount of offshore wind capacity planned off the British coastline. Taking into account offshore’s capacity factor, which because of a much strong and consistent wind regime is much better than onshore wind, this would be enough renewable energy to meet half the electricity demands of a province the size of Ontario.

Offshore wind is the next frontier for wind energy, and this U.K. announcement focuses attention on what North American governments are doing (or aren’t doing) to study and support offshore development. Already, there are ambitious proposals to build offshore wind farms on the U.S. east coast, Canada’s northwest coast and in Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan. Given the enormous demand for turbines that will be created in the U.K., on top of demand in continental Europe, it wouldn’t be surprising if North American projects are stalled in their tracks because of difficulty getting turbines. It will be interesting to see which of the offshore turbine manufacturers takes the early initiative by setting up shop in Canada or the United States, where they could establish an early foothold on offshore turbine orders.

One thing that’s true is that North American projects will benefit from the experience gained from the U.K. projects. On the other hand, this means dependence on imported skills and technology.

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