The UK government announced lease bid winners for nine offshore wind development zones that together aim to provide 25% of the country’s electricity by 2020.  The winning companies will next submit development proposals, which will go through normal planning and permitting processes, with construction targeted to begin in 2014.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Our policies in support of offshore wind energy have already put us ahead of every other country in the world. This new round of licences provides a substantial new platform for investing in UK industrial capacity.”

For more detail, see this post on the Yes2Wind website, which promotes wind development in the UK.

UPDATE (3/9/10):  In the wake of the “Round 3” leases noted here, doubts have been raised about whether the goal of fully building out the leases is realistic; limits in the supply chain for building such turbines is a major concern, as is financing.  See these two articles for more.