Spain has also seen a rapid move into renewable energies; in February 2009, renewables provided 31% of the total electricity supply; together with a fall in demand over the past year, that meant a 38% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared with 2008. This advance has been possible thanks to both the legislative and financial support received from the Government.

Alternative energy and fuels will supply thousands of sustainable jobs and business worth billions of pounds to the UK economy, if the Government is willing to back green technologies with financial assistance immediately. The UK is in an excellent position to exploit such technology, with its ideal climatic conditions and the existing fabrication facilities capable of building large generators. The risk is that without investment, the UK could be forced to import the costly technology at a premium, when such advancement becomes a necessity.

The recent announcement of the successful bids for nine new offshore wind farm zone licences within UK waters is, therefore, a welcome step in the right direction. Turbines in the nine zones could generate up to 32 gigawatts of power, a quarter of the UK's electricity needs. The successful bidders that include energy giant NPower, have signed exclusive agreements with the Crown Estate, which owns the UK seabed and proposals for the wind farms will now go through planning and consent stages. It will create one of the biggest infrastructure projects for wind energy in the world, with construction beginning in 2014 at the earliest.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the Government's policies to support offshore wind energy had put the UK ahead of other countries. "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 £75bn and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020"

However, a report prepared by consultants BVG Associates for the Crown Estate, which granted the new round of wind farm licences, highlighted a series of potential problems, from lack of affordable finance to a shortage of skills and to technical problems with servicing installations sited many miles offshore.

During January, only 0.2pc of a possible 5pc of the UK's energy was generated by wind turbines, due to the cold weather and accompanying high pressure resulting in a lack of wind.

Jeremy Nicholson, director of the Energy Intensive Users Group (EIUG), warned that this could turn into a crisis when the UK is reliant on 6,400 turbines accounting for a quarter of all UK electricity demand over the next 10 years. This is a clear warning that the UK will require a flexible, multi-faceted approach to power generation, if it is to avoid power shortages.

There are also questions about how much the British economy will benefit. Some regions, including the Prime Minister's constituency in Fife, are hoping to see hundreds of jobs created building and servicing the new turbine platforms, using skills developed for the offshore gas industry. But the EEF estimates that 90% of the €2bn being spent on the vast London Array – the largest example of a wind project already under way – has leaked overseas.

The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) warned that the UK would only truly benefit if the turbines were manufactured here. "We need to ensure the UK benefits through a boost in manufacturing, engineering and skills: but this will only happen if additional action is taken by the Government through working actively to create coastal manufacturing hubs," said Maria McCaffery, BWEA chief executive.

Welcome then, will be the news announced this week, that German electrical giant Siemens is to build a plant in Britain to produce turbines for the batteries of wind farms being built offshore. The company plans to invest more than £80m and create 700 jobs on a site yet to be finalised down the east or north east coast of England. Siemens is actually the fourth manufacturer set to take advantage of what is forecast to be a huge market for turbines. Last week General Electric announced plans to invest £100m and create 1,900 jobs at its facility in Britain, while Japan's Mitsubishi and another US manufacturer, Clipper Windpower are also due to manufacture here in the UK.

In last week's Budget, Chancellor Alastair Darling announced a £60m provision for a competition aimed at attracting turbine and other green investment to Britain's ports.

Such investment is crucial, particularly after the closure of the Vestas turbine plant on the Isle of Wight last year left Britain without a domestic manufacturer and resulted in orders going abroad, a large number of them to Siemens plants in Germany.

So, the UK is on course to become the world's wind capital through offshore developments with a capacity of 32,000 megawatts and investment exceeding some £100bn.

A fantastic step in the right direction for the economy as a whole and indicative of the positive steps this Government has taken toward securing jobs and investment for the next generation…