Dr Gordon Edge, director of economics and markets at the BWEA, said smaller firms only had themselves to blame after selling on sites in the early bidding rounds and delaying projects.

On the day the Government announced wind power has the potential to provide a quarter of Britain’s energy needs – it appears there’ll be no way for small business to get a share of the market.

Speaking at BWEA’s Offshore Wind 09 event Dr Edge said the Crown Estate, which is administrating the bidding process for government, in round three will only deal with the ‘big boys’.

Referring to off-shore wind farm sites, he said: “They’re not going to give sites to small players, as sites were sold on in round one and round two.”

His comments were echoed by Peter Hodgetts, chief executive of The SeaRoc Group, who said ten or 15 years ago big firms weren’t interested in renewables.

He said: “Now we’re seeing major players very quickly moving into this sector.”

Luke Walsh

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