National Grid 'unable to cope with wind farm expansion' as nine new sites get go-ahead

A major expansion of wind farms around the coast has been called into question due to a shortage of engineers and fluctuations in wind levels.

The plan was to power every home in Britain with electricity generated by 6,000 new wind turbines, mostly in the North Sea.

The Prime Minister announced today nine new farm zones today, including sites in the Irish Sea, the Bristol Channel, the Moray Firth, the Firth of Forth, off the coast of Norfolk and west of the Isle of Wight, and construction could begin by 2013-2015.

Gordon Brown said the £100billion programme could generate more than 25GW of electricity by 2020 - enough to power every home in Britain.

'Our policies in support of offshore wind energy have already put us ahead of every other country in the world.

'This new round of licences provides a substantial new platform for investing in UK industrial capacity.

'The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy's shift to low carbon and could be worth £75 billion and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020,' Mr Brown said.

But energy experts questioned whether the National Grid would be able to deal with the peaks and troughs of energy supplied by wind power.

John Constable, research director of the Renewable Energy Foundation, said the grid could not handle the highs in energy when the wind was blowing.

'The truth is nobody has a clue how to create a grid with that much fluctuating energy,' he told The Telegraph.

Energy companies were also said to be anxious about the financial and logistical challenges of construction, due to start in 2014.

Paul Wilson, of PB Power, said the turbines represented a huge problem because they would be sited in deeper water than existing projects.

'The resources we need to build these thing in time will be huge and I suspect that the reality is it will be very challenging to find the equipment and skills to put the foundations in place, never mind the infrastructure,' he told the newspaper.

'There is an issue with skilled engineers. It is also critical to have enough laying barges to drill the foundation and put the turbines in place.'

There were also concerns about whether Britain would gain many jobs after the only turbine manufacturing plant in the country, run by Danish firm Vestas on the Isle of Wight, closed last year.

Greenpeace executive director John Sauven urged the government to make sure any jobs created were filled by British workers.

'Our country is home to some of the best engineers, mechanics and construction professionals in the world.

'Their expertise will be crucial if we are to harness the massive potential that new technologies like offshore wind have to offer.

'The government's role is clear. Train and equip Britain's workforce to ensure that the thousands of jobs that will be created are filled by British workers, and provide the economic certainty investors need to complete these projects on time and on budget.

'The economic and environmental benefits are huge, but unless we make the most of this momentous opportunity, others will,' he said.