The renewable energy sector in the UK is approaching an important threshold in terms of the amount of funding it is able to secure in 2015, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
According to the business analyst, wind turbines along the nation's coastline are a key element in the country's renewable energy mix - but the necessary roll-out of the technology and infrastructure required to hit the targets could cost £10 billion per year.
This figure is based on the assumption of "limited project finance" being accessible to infrastructure developers during the initial phase of construction.
Michael Hurley, global energy and utilities advisory leader at PwC, says: "Offshore wind plays a make or break role in the UK's ability to hit its energy targets and time is running out very quickly on our ability to achieve them."
The recession may have played its part in affecting the progress made on renewable energy targets; in 2009 the total wind generation capacity brought online was less than half of that required.
Despite a need to average 1.1 GW of new wind power production each year until the end of the decade, PwC reports that the actual amount achieved fell well short of this target.
The figure is based on the plan to produce 30 per cent of the power used in the UK by renewable means before the end of 2020, with wind power expected to account for nearly half of the energy mix by that point.
In mid-July, the Department of Energy and Climate Change also reported that the target for reducing carbon emissions had been raised above that put in place by the EU in a joint announcement from energy ministers of the UK, France and Germany.
From its former level of 20 per cent, the trio opted to increase the target by half, looking to make a 30 per cent overall reduction in carbon emissions by the end of the decade.
