Windfarms 'could become tourist attractions'

Windfarms could become tourist attractions, an environmental analysis group has said, as the popularity of renewable energy use grows.

According to the editor of BusinessGreen.com James Murray, there has been a rise in the number of people going to sea to spot turbines.

He said: "There have been reports from some of the offshore farms off the coast of Norfolk that the tourist industry has turned seal spotting trips into seal spotting and turbine trips."

Mr Murray was speaking just a day before the world's largest wind farm is set to open.

Vattenfall Thanet, off the coast of Kent, will consist of 100 wind turbines, producing enough energy to run 200,000 homes.

Despite costing £780 million to build, it is expected to increase Britain's offshore wind capacity by more than 30 per cent.

The environmental analysis expert added that this windfarm, along with others, are likely to "attract a little bit of interest".

Posted by Joseph Hutton