James Murray

At first glance, the recent announcement from the European Wind Energy Association that the EU is on track to reach its target of generating 20 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2020 looks like it should be taken with a healthy pinch of salt. It just sounds a little too much like a footballer explaining why monogamy is an outmoded concept – after all, they would say that, wouldn't they.

But look at the study again and this upbeat prediction starts to look a little more plausible. The wind energy industry has little to gain from telling European governments it agrees with their belief that they are happily on track to meet renewable energy targets. If it genuinely felt we were falling short on the targets, it would call for more subsidies and looser planning rules to help ensure they are met – that tends to be what lobby groups are for. Instead, it reckons only six countries are falling behind schedule with their plans to boost renewable energy capacity, and that shortfall is likely to be offset by the sterling effort put in by Germany and Spain, both of which should exceed their targets.

This optimism was underlined by three separate stories today, each of which highlights the burgeoning health of the UK's renewables sector.

First, Marine Current Turbines announced it has completed its second funding round inside two months, raising more than £8m in the process and moving ever closer to realising its plan of installing the world's first commercial-scale tidal energy farm off the coast of Anglesey in north Wales.

Second, the Financial Times reported that Spanish turbine manufacturer Gamesa is actively considering locating a plant in the UK, after one key customer, Iberdrola, urged it to step up support for the booming British wind energy sector.

Third, and most important, Mitsubishi Power Systems surprised many within the industry by announcing it is to invest £100m in building a British wind turbine R&D centre – a move the government said will put the UK in the box seat to secure future investment in a full-blown manufacturing plant.

Industry insiders are confident more announcements are on the way. Ever since Vestas embarrassingly shut its one UK turbine plant last summer, the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills is said to have been working the phones, talking to all the leading wind turbine manufacturers and finding out what needs to be done to convince them to locate facilities in the UK. That work now appears to be bearing fruit.

Senior executives at GE and Siemens as well as Gamesa have met with ministers to discuss opening new manufacturing facilities in the UK and decisions are expected sooner rather than later. The UK would be extremely unlucky not to see at least one large-scale manufacturing plant announced within the next four months or so.

This surge in interest is being driven by a dawning realisation that the massive round 3 expansion of offshore wind farms is, as one observer put it, " 99.9 per cent certain". The companies that make wind turbines are aware there will be huge demand emanating from the UK, and as a result there will be significant cost advantages to be realised by locating manufacturing plants near the ports that will serve the new wind farms. Cost advantages that will become ever more apparent as a government under pressure to deliver the green jobs it keeps promising bends over backwards to make them feel welcome.

This is by no means to suggest that the UK's renewable energy industry can rest on its laurels. It is instructive that an audience at a CBI event last year responded to a question about whether they thought the UK would meet its renewables targets by sitting on their hands. Planning delays and supply chain constraints in particular could quickly knock the UK's renewables plans off track, while a glance at the latest climate science will tell you the EU's plans are still not ambitious enough.

A degree of cynicism is always required whenever an industry suggests things are going well, but just because the renewable energy sector is increasingly confident it can deliver on its promises does not necessarily mean it is wrong.