The Inevitability of Offshore Wind and Economic Growth in the UK

The critical effects of climate change and efforts to reduce these effects have long been in place around the world. Followed by the declaration of the EU's ambitious energy target to reduce harmful emissions, the UK has joined its step along with the EU. The UK is expecting to meet its energy target through development of offshore wind power where they have the great potentials with rich resources. While meeting the energy target the UK also believes that they can achieve economic growth (in employment, GDP and balance of trade) through the developments of offshore wind farms. Since the country has been under economic recession for a long time if the offshore wind power market could give them economic benefits it would be a great opportunity for the country and the hence, value of offshore wind power will need to be re-considered. This research therefore focuses on the UK's offshore wind power developments in order to examine the likely economic impacts it can bring to the country's economy.