Worldwide interest in Poole Bay wind farm proposal

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Although falling investment may be stalling the national move towards green energy, plans for an off shore wind farm in Poole Bay  seem set to go ahead.

Iberdrola Renewables, the world's largest invester in wind farms, this week announced it was cutting investment in the UK by £300m - some 40 per cent. Also both BP and Shell have pulled out of major wind turbine programmes.

However, proposals for a massive £175 million wind farm in Poole Bay  off the Dorset coast have already received offers of investment from around the globe.

Nine zones with potential for wind farm development have been outlined by the Crown Estate, which owns the seabed around the UK coast, as part of plans to generate 25GW of offshore energy by 2020.

For Dorset it could mean 100 turbines around 10 miles offshore, which would be visible from land.

The tender period closed this month and the Crown has now announced it has received 40 bids, covering all nine zones, from 18 different companies based in nine different countries.