International players sit on UK Offshore Wind Council

Key players in the renewables industry joined UK government representatives yesterday for the inaugural meeting of a body focusing on wind energy.

The Ooffshore Wind Sector Council is co-chaired by Keith Anderson, chief corporate officer of ScottishPower and the UK government’s Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon.

Its members include representatives from the Welsh and Scottish governments, the Northern Ireland executive and the Crown Estate, as well as senior bosses from companies including Areva Wind, Dong Energy, E.ON, EDF, Mitsubishi, RWE, Siemens and Vattenfall.

The council has been set up to help deliver a strategy to boost investment in the UK supply chain and give Britain a competitive advantage in the global offshore wind market.

Fallon said yesterday that the UK “has a real chance to lead the world in the offshore wind” and added that he was “determined that government and industry should work together and make sure the UK makes the most of the opportunity for growth and jobs that this sector presents”.

Anderson said that it was “vital that the renewable energy industry and the government continue to work closely together to unlock all of the social and economic advantages of developing offshore wind power, as well as the major environmental benefits”.