Uk Department Of Trade Industry News

A new study of the worldwide prospects for offshore renewable energy recently commissioned by the U.K.’s Department of Trade & Industry from energy analysts, Douglas-Westwood Associates (DWA), has identified 77 proposed offshore wind power projects totaling over 13,000 MW of generating capacity. In the opening address to delegates at the second annual ‘All-Energy Opportunities’ conference in Aberdeen, DWA partner John Westwood stated that prospects on screen had increased from 22 in 2001, to 77 in 2002 - “a remarkable growth in such a short period”. DWA analyst Katharine Evans said that their models indicated that if realized these projects could require some 4,000 km of underwater power cables.

Cammell Laird gave a cautious response to an improved government aid package to help it win a $500 million pound contract to build two cruise ships. The U.K. Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) said late on Monday it would share an extra $100 million risk with the company to underwrite the risk of the contract falling through. The government had previously offered $300 million in guaranteed loans to cover the contract. A spokesman for Cammell Laird said the next step was for cruise company Luxus to decide on whether or not to accept the government's package, which a DTI spokeswoman described as the highest level of risk-sharing the British government had ever undertaken under its shipbuilding credit guarantee scheme.