By Philip Waller
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will boost the generation of power from wind farms by a third next year as part of efforts to hit renewable energy targets, a government minister said on Wednesday.
Energy and climate change minister Mike O'Brien said the government was expecting to increase the UK's installed wind power generating capacity to four gigawatts by this time in 2009.
That compares with the three gigawatts achieved following completion of construction of a wind farm owned by Centrica Plc off the UK's east coast this week.
O'Brien said there was a draft plan for up to 25 more gigawatts in addition to the eight already planned and the government would make a decision on that in the spring of 2009.
"Expansion of offshore wind remains on course," O'Brien told the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) conference in London's Docklands.
The UK now has eight offshore wind farms operating and four under construction.
Three of the four being built are due to come online at the end of 2009, while the first part of the fourth and largest scheme under construction -- the 1.3 billion pounds Greater Gabbard scheme in the North Sea, due to be the world's biggest offshore wind farm -- should be completed in 2010 or 2011, the BWEA said.
Industry executives have warned that failure to modernize the UK's national power transmission grid, planning delays, hold-ups in getting wind farms connected to the grid and other problems could jeopardize government plans to generate 15 percent of all the UK's energy from renewable sources by 2020.
O'Brien declined to say whether the government would invest extra money to improve the national grid, but said it was working with the operator of the system, National Grid Plc and regulator Ofgem "to ensure the grid was fit for purpose."
The government is pushing legislation through Parliament to try to simplify and speed up the planning process for infrastructure projects.
"We have a massive legislative program to ensure we deliver the changes we need," O'Brien told Reuters after speaking to delegates.
(Reporting by Philip Waller; Editing by David Holmes)
