1000s of wind farms to be built by 2014

Thousands of wind farms could be under construction in Britain within six years to meet government targets for renewable energy.

The Crown Estate yesterday announced 11 zones around the coastline as the best places to build the next generation of offshore wind farms.

It said construction would have to start by the end of 2014 if the government wanted to be generating enough electricity to meet targets by 2020.

Crown Estate’s Rob Hastings said it needed to start work immediately to begin the process of deciding which companies should lead the development in the zones.

He said the scale of the operation would be so big and expensive that each zone could be awarded to a consortium, the Times reports.

Contracts would be awarded by early summer next year.

Britain has been set a target of providing 15% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 and sees wind as a major source.