Britain has announced a programme to boost the amount of energy it produces from renewable sources.

The government has granted licences for wind-farms at eighteen off-shore sites.

It says they should generate enough power to satisfy the needs of more than one-million households.

The wind-farms will consist of clusters of up to thirty wind-turbines built in the sea to minimise the nuisance from noise and unsightliness.

The move has been welcomed by environmental groups: Greenpeace said it could at last welcome a move to exploit the sea, after protesting for thirty years about the industrial abuse of it.

The government aims to get five per cent of Britain's energy needs from wind-power by two-thousand-and-ten. This scheme will provide just one per cent at a cost of two-point-four billion dollars and some experts believe the two-thousand-and-ten target is unrealistic.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service