The offshore
renewable energy market provided by the UK's natural wind resources is both established and functional, according to the Crown Estate.
Rob Hastings, director of marine estate at the national property portfolio management organisation, explains that the renewable energy generating facilities already in place along the UK coastline are functional, although they remain in their relatively early days.
Future work will see the wind power estate mature, as more planning decisions are made to allow construction to continue.
While some projects are already underway, Mr Hastings notes the importance of sites where construction has not yet begun.
"We are currently in a position that there are more sites that have the consent with the right to construct than are being constructed - few countries can offer that," he says.
Mr Hastings goes on to note that the resources available to our island nation in terms of energy generation are arguably fairly limited, restricting the opportunities to develop the energy market domestically.
However, this too boosts the uptake of wind generation as policies favour the resources that are at the UK's disposal - making wind "attractive" in terms of the opportunities put forward in current legislation.
"While clearly today's circumstances are exceptional, we have one of the biggest single accessible offshore wind resources in the world on our doorstep," Mr Hastings says.
As 2020 and the EU's targets for increasing the use of renewable energy opportunities approach, he predicts acceleration in the deployment of offshore wind farms.
The current energy store capacity for turbine-generated power stands at less than 6 GW, but by 2018 he anticipates that at least this much of capacity will be brought online each year.
His comments follow the publication of figures by the Department of Energy and Climate Change which showed a 33 per cent increase in energy generated by offshore wind between 2008 and 2009.
