Copyright 2003 International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune
December 20, 2003 Saturday
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2

LENGTH: 469 words

HEADLINE: Britain to build big wind farms;
$12.4 billion plan for 1,000 turbines

BYLINE: Heather Timmons

SOURCE: The New York Times

DATELINE: LONDON:

BODY:
Energy companies plan to place more than 1,000 turbines off England's
coastline in a $12.4 billion project that will create the world's largest
source of wind energy.

The wind farms, which received preliminary approval on Thursday, would
generate as much as seven gigawatts of electricity -- enough to supply four
million households, or, in another measure, to meet 7 percent of Britain's
total energy needs. Britain has pledged that 10 percent of its total energy
will come from renewable resources by 2010. The Crown Estate, the agency
that controls British public lands, including its seabeds, asked companies
to submit bids for wind farms on the British coastline in July.

Royal Dutch/Shell, Warwick Energy, Powergen and Total are among companies
that won leasing rights of up to 50 years for the project, which involves a
total of 15 sites and is expected to start generating electricity in 2007.

The project is vast. Groups of hundreds of turbines will be installed in the
shallow waters of the Thames Estuary, in the East Coast area known as the
Greater Wash, and off the northwest coast of England.

"This is a massive development for our industry," said Marcus Rand, chief
executive of the British Wind Energy Association. "This puts the United
Kingdom in the fast lane to becoming a world leader in offshore power
generation."

Before they can start building, energy companies need clearance from the
public and the government, including environmental regulators. The turbines
will be visible from the shore only on very clear days, the companies
involved in the development said, so that public outcry, at least about the
view, is expected to be minimal.

The project's biggest obstacle may come in the form of the red-throated
diver, a small waterfowl related to the American loon, which feeds in and
around some of the sites. The Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds
issued a cautionary statement on Thursday, asking the government to make
sure the wind farms do not pose a "significant threat to birds."

Little definitive research has been done on the effect of offshore wind
farms on the bird population. "We're in a sort of Catch-22, because we have
to prove that this project is not a danger to birds," but there's no project
of its size to compare it with, said Peter Crone, a director of Farm Energy,
a renewable energy specialist that is one of the winning bidders.

Of course, birds have died after colliding with turbines. "Clearly, birds
have been flying into things for hundreds of years, and that hasn't caused
any extinctions," said Mark Avery, director of conservation for the Royal
Society, which supports renewable energy. But, he said, it might not make
great sense "to construct a large number of objects where large numbers of
birds are already flying."

LOAD-DATE: December 21, 2003