Electric storm

Lately, it would seem as though expert opinion over the

's energy future has been heading irrepressibly towards the rebirth of the nuclear option. One of the arguments for this is that as laudable as renewables are, they cannot produce enough power to fill the

's energy gap if our reliance on fossil fuels were to be reduced. However, two projects in

are set to tackle this argument head on by committing huge amounts of money, resources and technology to thinking big about the future of offshore windfarms.

Last month the EU's largest-ever wind energy research project kicked off in

. Involving more than 100 wind energy specialists from throughout Europe,

brings together academia, industry and various research organisations to look at the design and engineering issues that surround the next generation of giant wind turbines to be built some time after 2010.

Led by the

(EWEA) the project was launched after pressure from the wind energy sector following what it perceived as a lack of emphasis on renewable technologies in the EU's latest raft of Framework 6 proposals.