Up to 7,000 wind turbines are expected to be built in Britain over the next 12 years with a £100 billion energy budget.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced several initiatives in an effort to meet a European Union target of producing 15 per cent of energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Around 3,000 turbines are expected to be erected at sea, but the rest would be onshore.

It is thought 160,000 jobs would be created.

Philip Wolfe, executive director of Britain's Renewable Energy Association, said: "The key missing factor is a greater sense of urgency. We have only 12 years left and Government still wants to use two of those talking about it.

"The industry has a very short space of time in which to meet challenging targets. There are still gaps and anomalies that need to be addressed with fresh polices."

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