MP welcomes Prime Minister's committment to offshore wind farms

MP welcomes Prime Minister’s commitment to

offshore wind farms

Tony Wright MP has welcomed an announcement by Prime Minister Gordon Brown for a multi-billion pound commitment to a third generation of offshore wind farms. A number of companies have now been given the go ahead develop the new wind farms by the Crown Estate.

The announcement, which includes a £15 billion project off the Norfolk coast, will create over 1,000 jobs for local companies, with a further 4,000 created in the supply chain.

The Prime Minister said:

‘This new round of licenses provides a substantial new platform for investing in UK industrial capacity.

‘This announcement will make a significant and practical contribution to reducing our CO2 emissions and the Government will work with developers and the Crown Estate to support the growing offshore wind industry and help remove barriers to rapid development.’

The project off the Norfolk coast, knows as the East Anglia Array, will cover an area bigger than the county itself and has the potential to deliver energy to over 5 million homes a year.

The East of England Energy Group said the towns such as Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth were well placed to reap the benefits of the project, having established themselves as a hub for energy industry expertise through projects such as the Scroby Sands and Greater Gabbard wind farms.

Tony said:

‘This announcement provides a golden opportunity to our local firms which already have a widely renowned reputation for expertise in the energy sector. This project will create thousands of local jobs and shows the Government’s commitment to the East of England.

‘Offshore wind will soon become one of the main sources of our energy supplies and shows the Government is serious about cutting the UK’s carbon emissions as well as investing in the green energy sector which will become one of our routes out of recession.’