January 8, 2010 -- Updated 1613 GMT (0013 HKT)
London, England (CNN) -- Britain is about to
have a massive expansion in renewable energy after awarding
licenses for nine offshore wind farms Friday.
The energy generated from the new wind farms will provide a
quarter of Britain's electricity needs by 2020, according to the
Crown Estate, which awarded the contracts.
Companies had bid for the right to build wind farms in nine
zones around Britain, from the English Channel to the North Sea off
Scotland. The successful bidders must now plan their projects and
receive approval before they can build.
"Our island has one of the best wind energy resources in Europe
and today's news shows we're creating the right conditions for the
energy industry to invest in harnessing it," said British Energy
Secretary Ed Miliband.
The wind farms will be able to offer 32 gigawatts, or about a
quarter of Britain's electricity needs, said Roger Bright, chief
executive of the Crown Estate.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the expansion could
provide as many as 70,000 jobs by 2020. He promised to remove any
barriers to rapid development.
The Crown Estate belongs to the queen and is one of the largest
property owners in the United Kingdom. It pays its entire revenue
to the British Treasury.
It owns half of the United Kingdom's foreshore, 55 percent of
tidal river beds and estuaries, and almost the entire seabed out to
12-nautical-mile territorial limit. Under the Energy Act of 2004,
the Crown Estate can also issue leases for development beyond the
territorial limit, out to 200 nautical miles.
Friday's announcement is "the biggest tender for renewables
ever," said Antonio Mexia, chairman of EDP Renovaveis, a Portuguese
company that won a license to build in the Moray Firth, off
Scotland's eastern coast.
"This is about delivering a whole new industry for the U.K., one
that provides sustainable, secure, and indigenous power as well as
tens of thousands of new jobs throughout the supply chain," said
Eddie O'Connor, the chief executive of Irish company Mainstream
Renewable Power.
Mainstream, together with Germany's Siemens Project
Ventures, won the license to build off Hornsea, on England's
eastern coast.