By Kari Williamson

Huhne highlighted the 9000 jobs created and the £1.7 billion invested in the renewable energy sector in this financial year alone. He said renewable energy technologies would deliver "a third industrial revolution every bit as profound as the first two".

He also criticised what he called "the curmudgeons and fault-finders who hold forth on the impossibility of renewables" describing them as "an unholy alliance of short-termists, armchair engineers, climate sceptics and vested interests who are selling the UK economy short".

RenewableUK predicts that 88,300 people will be working in the wind, wave and tidal industry and the supply chain by 2021.

Maria McCaffery, RenewableUK's Chief Executive, says: "The Secretary of State's emphatic defence of the renewables industry will provide a welcome and timely boost for everyone working in this dynamic sector. We're proud that he chose to make such a strong declaration of support at our annual conference. His words reflect the determination of those working in the renewable energy sector to build Britain's low carbon economy.”