Wind turbines scheme could transform coast

7:00pm Monday 10th December 2007

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THE coastline of Dorset could face radical change with the news that thousands of offshore wind turbines could be built around the UK.

This wind power revolution would open up UK seas to 7,000 turbines, capable of providing 33 gigawatts of energy by 2020 - enough to power every home in the UK.

The government proposal, aimed at combating climate change, equates to two turbines for every mile of coast.

It was announced yesterday by business secretary John Hutton, at an energy conference in Berlin.

The news comes as plans for an onshore wind farm in Purbeck and a single wind turbine in Poole are stirring up controversy locally - particularly regarding their visual impact.

In an interview with BBC1's Politics Show, Mr Hutton admitted it would also be an issue for offshore turbines.

"It is going to change our coastline, yes, for sure," he said. "There is no way of making the shift to low carbon technology without making a change and that change being visible to people."

The news has been greeted with caution by local environmentalists.

Nicky Hoar, of the Dorset Wildlife Trust, said: "As an environmental charity we support sustainable energy production, but that has to be with the provision that it doesn't have an adverse impact on wildlife. We have a lot of migrating sea birds and migration patterns would have to be taken into account."

Rachel Waldock, maritime advisor for Natural England, Dorset, said vibrations caused by turbines could affect dolphins, sharks and other sea life.

"Dolphin and porpoises have quite sensitive hearing and a low frequency sound can confuse them," she said.

"With any cabling going from the turbine to the shore there could be an electromagnetic field set up which could affect animals like sharks and rays who sense their prey by electromagnetic fields. It can disturb their ability to move around and hunt."

She said the protections afforded to the Jurassic Coast and Dorset's Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty were likely be taken into account by Defra, the licensing authority for such offshore structures, but would not necessarily be overriding factors.

The major expansion will be subject to the outcome of a Strategic Environmental Assessment and exact locations have yet to be determined.

But about eight gigawatts of capacity could be operational by 2014, including the one gigawatt London Array, the biggest offshore wind farm in the world.