British industries from boat-building to concrete, and electric cabling to gearbox manufacturing are in the line-up to benefit from the construction of thousands of offshore wind turbines, if new plans go ahead.
A group representing the UK’s offshore wind industry on Monday adopted a target of ensuring that more than half of the supply chain for offshore windfarms is sourced from the UK. At present, less than a third of the value of the goods and services needed to construct offshore wind farms actually originates in the UK.
The size of the potential market runs to many billions – the government estimates that at least £200bn in investment will be needed in the whole energy sector by 2020, to overhaul the UK’s creaking grid infrastructure, bring power stations up to European standards and meet renewable energy and emissions targets.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/06/offshore-wind-turbine-british-industry
