Wind farm expansions given go-ahead - graduate jobs

Architecture and construction graduates will be encouraged by the steady flow of jobs that expansions to offshore wind sites around the English coast will provide.

The Crown Estate has approved plans to expand the sites to provide enough power for an additional 1.4 million homes. The five developments will create an extra 1.7 giggawatts (GW) of power and will be located in Suffolk, Kent, Cumbria and Liverpool Bay.

However, the extensions must first pass full, new planning application, environmental impact assessment and consultation before the building work can get underway, the Crown Estate added.

The green light has also been granted to install extra capacity to harness more wind energy within the designated offshore area of two projects off the coast of Norfolk. In total the extensions permitted by the Crown Estate will provide an additional 2GW of power to the grid.

It is hoped the developments will add to England's energy security and provide jobs and a stable flow of construction projects for the supply chain before the massive "Round 3" expansion of offshore wind kicks in.