Wind Farm Developers Find Boost From Climate Change

Thanks to the shift in climate change, offshore wind farm developers may have been given the boost that they need to go ahead on new projects that would have otherwise never been used. Officials have noted that it is now becoming much windier in waters off the cost of Essex and East Anglia. Thus, the area may be able to host many more wind farms as a result. More wind equals more money, which is good news in this struggling economy.

Research that has been done by Atoms Consulting has found that the wind speeds in thee areas could make about 50% more electricity now than they would have been able to a decade ago. Now, more than 10GW of offshore wind farm projects are being planned in the southern part of the North Sea. More than 10 million homes could see the benefits of this.

Images that have been taken from the Nasa satellite have shown that the annual wind speeds for Essex and East Anglia have increase by about 7.5 metres per second in 1990 to almost 8.5 metres in 2008. Wind speeds off the coast of Scotland have remained unchanged over this same period of time.

Experts say, if this trend continues, which they feel it might, in a decade, the south could become windier all year around than areas in the north. Thus, areas off the cost of East Anglia and Essex could double the power generated by wind farms.

This news could be the information that is need to save the £3bn London Array wind-farm project. E.ON says that they will give a final decision this summer on the project.