Jul 22 - Yorkshire Post

The race to harness Britain's coastal wind energy could generate 30,000 jobs, the Government says.

Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said yesterday that expansion in offshore wind power could cause a surge in employment and attract Pounds 3bn of investment to the North East alone. The region's manufacturing expertise could be utilised.

Mr Wicks was speaking at the New and Renewable Energy Centre at Blyth, Northumberland. He opened the site where Calif-ornian energy giant Clipper Wind is to develop the world's largest wind turbine - a 7.5 megawatt installation 10 times higher than the Angel of the North.

"Offshore wind will play a sign-ificant role in helping us meet our challenging targets for a massive in-crease in the amount of energy gen-erated from renewables," he said.

"With our plans to increase the financial support for offshore wind, it is further evidence of our commitment to make the UK one of the most attractive places to invest in green energy."

-- The Scottish government gave the go-ahead yesterday for Europe's largest onshore wind farm, a 152-turbine development near Abington, South Lanarkshire.

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