U.K. beats Denmark in offshore wind

LONDON, Oct. 22 (UPI) -- The United Kingdom has overtaken Denmark as the No. 1 offshore wind producer.

There are now 597 megawatts of offshore wind power built in the United Kingdom, powering about 300,000 homes. According to the prime minister, the United Kingdom now gets 3 gigawatts of power from wind; offshore makes up about 20 percent of that.

Denmark was dethroned after work at Centrica's Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms near Skegness was completed.

There are five more offshore wind farms under construction that will add another 938 megawatts to the total by the end of next year, said Mike O'Brien, minister of state at the new Department of Energy and Climate Change.

The offshore wind power announcement follows the announcement that the Carbon Trust will help accelerate offshore wind power in the United Kingdom by working with five energy companies on an initiative to cut the costs of energy from offshore wind by 10 percent.