Greenpeace says 30,000 new jobs could be created in north-east England, if the government backed an ambitious plan for offshore wind energy.

Research commissioned by the environmental group says that the winds blowing round Britain's coasts could produce three times more electricity than the country currently uses.

Nick Goodhall of the British Wind Energy Association is looking for more action from the government

The group proposes an initial target of generating 10% of electricity from offshore wind by 2010. This is much bigger than the government's target of producing 10% from all renewable sources by then.

Launching the research, Greenpeace renewable energy campaigner Simon Reddy said Britain could learn from the Danish example.

"Denmark is now able to produce 8% of its electricity from wind power, and by 2030 they expect to produce 40%, the greater part from offshore wind."

Mr Reddy said a long-term, predictable policy by government of supporting wind would give companies the confidence to invest in the sector.

And that could mean a massive boost to employment in north east England, with its long tradition of engineering.

Visible from the shore

Greenpeace and its supporters in the offshore manufacturing industry say that 5,000 wind turbines are needed to meet the target of supplying 10% of electricity in 10 years' time.

They would be sited in groups of between 50 to 100, and none would be closer to the shore than five kilometres.

Sites under consideration included the Thames estuary, Lincolnshire, the Solway Firth, and two sites off the coast of Wales.

Greenpeace's vision is backed by the British Wind Energy Association.

Its chief executive, Nick Goodall, says BWEA's membership has grown enormously over the last twelve months. New members, both British and foreign, are mainly from the offshore oil and gas industries.

"If there is one single reason for this, it is the prospect of entering into the potentially enormous offshore wind market.

Mr Goodall says the only thing missing is "the decision to implement a planned programme of support for offshore wind parks".

Not everybody loves them

He told BBC News Online: "I think that the biggest problem at the moment is that this new government has taken on reforming virtually everything simultaneously.

"Rather than simply looking at how it could extend the renewable contribution, it is reforming electricity at large."

Nick Goodall believes electricity from offshore wind is probably cheaper than its competitors even now - and its position can only improve.

"By about 2030 virtually every single piece of generating plant in the United Kingdom will have shut down anyway, through age, because it will be illegal or because it will not be commercially viable.

"If we do not literally want the lights to go out, we need to make decisions now about how we'll be generating electricity."

Onshore wind farms have attracted vocal opposition, and allegations by their supporters that the protests are co-ordinated and funded by more conventional generating industries.

"We will not see the UK surrounded in a picket fence of turbines", says Nick Goodall. "What we will find is that in some places there will be turbines that will be visible.