Under plans announced by Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, Britain is to have the biggest capacity in the world within seven years for the production of energy from coastal installations. One in six homes in Britain, or nearly four million households, will switch to wind power.

Ms Hewitt says that the market has the potential to create a business boom similar to the growth of oil exploration in the 1970s and gas in the 1980s.

The North Sea oil industries are worth £5 billion to the economy and represent 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product. Ms Hewitt says that British manufacturing companies will also gain, using their oil and gas offshore expertise.

A senior government source said: “This is certainly the next stage in the energy market and offshore wind farms are the main area for expansion in the next five to 15 years. Britain is a small country in a windy ocean and must maximise these assets.

“Loads of firms will benefit, not just the engineers and construction workers but the manufacturers making the turbines, the blades and material for the blades.”

By 2010 the number of jobs in the industry is forecast to rise from 2,000 to 20,000, and Ms Hewitt says that many communities blighted by closures of shipbuilding yards and steelworks will benefit.

Companies have three months to assess the prospects for sites in three areas: the Thames Estuary, the Greater Wash area of the North Sea in the East of England, and an area in the Irish Sea from the Solway Firth in Cumbria to Rhyl flats in North Wales.

Consideration of threats to the environment and conservation will, however, be given high prority. Ms Hewitt, who is a frequent visitor to the Norfolk coast near Cromer, is in the vanguard of those anxious to preserve the beauty of the coastline and to ensure that wildlife, particularly birds, are not at risk.

The 80m (260ft) light blue or grey wind turbines will be placed at least 4.8km (3 miles) away from the shore, and could be as far as 13km. It is not known how many sites will be constructed. Each is expected to have up to 300 towers, situated about 500m apart. The blades will have a span of 120m.

Research has found that the structures can be a boon for fish stocks. The turbines provide conditions resembling that of an artifical reef and allow breeding and nurseries for young fish. It may also be possible for fishing parties to go on small boats between the turbines.

Shipping and safety rules are yet to be clarified, although large container ships would certainly be banned from the vicinity. Lower parts of the turbines are to be painted bright yellow to alert vessels to their presence, and they will have navigation lights and radar reflectors.

Campaigners from Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace said they hoped that this was just the start of a new energy industry to harness opportunities offered by the wind, tides and waves.

Alan Moore, chairman of the British Wind Energy Association, said: “This is a truly historic moment for the UK. Cleaner electricity and tens of thousands of jobs are there to be won.”

Despite the enthusiasm for the plans by green groups and the industry, sceptics said that Britain could never wholly rely on offshore wind power. Tim Foulkes, director-general of the Institution of Civil Engineers, said: “We must not lose sight of the fact that the wind blows only a third of the time and cannot ever be expected to supply the major proportion of energy requirement.”

Tim Yeo, the Shadow Trade and Industry spokesman, was also unconvinced by the plans. He said: “Offshore wind cannot be economic without a big subsidy from the taxpayer and a complete back-up system.”

Companies such as Innogy, which owns National Wind Power and npower; Centrica, which owns British Gas; Powergen; Shell; Scottish Power; Nuon, the Dutch utility company; and Elsam, the Danish utility company, are studying the potential for the new market. Iberdrola, the Spanish power company, and Enel, the partly state-owned Italian electricity company, are also expected to apply for the licences. Some are working in consortiums to share the costs and the risks.

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