Wind and waves: Images of a renewable future

Sarah Ragan from TNEI, an independent energy consultancy, claimed first prize with this image, which will be featured on the cover in the January issue of the BWEA magazine. "We commissioned Sasa Savic, a Newcastle-on-Tyne photographer, to produce some images for us. We wanted them to be quirky and engaging - which is exactly what Lynn the cow provided" Photograph: PR

Second place went to Andrew Harmsworth, head of physics at The Leys school in Cambridge, for his shot of children playing in the shadow of a wind turbine at Burton Wold. Andrew runs the school's photography club and is the driving force behind its sustainability initiative. "It was pure chance that the girls ran over to the edge of the field at the foot of the turbine with their own wind mills," he says Photograph: PR

Third prize was claimed by Alen O’Neill, who has been taking pictures of offshore energy projects for 30 years. His image shows a blade being installed on a turbine at the Barrow in Furness offshore windfarm Photograph: PR

Paul Anderson was shortlisted for this image of a turbine tower being delivered to the Scout Moor windfarm in Lancashire. Switched on earlier this year, the 26 turbines on the moors between Rawtenstall and Rochdale generate 65MW of electricity that power around 40,000 homes. "I was fortunate in being able to climb to the top of some scaffolding to get this shot - which puts the size of one tower into perspective," Paul says Photograph: PR

Mike Roper was commended for his entries which included this striking image of a wind turbine on Westray in the Orkney Islands Photograph: Mike Roper/PR

Another of Mike Roper's commended images shows a tidal turbine being installed near the island of Eday in the Orkneys Photograph: Mike Roper/PR

Tony Edwards was shortlisted for this image of a wind turbine at Lynnfield, off the coast of Skegness. The winners were picked from 176 images submitted by the public and members of the BWEA Photograph: PR

Hugo House received a special mention for this photo taken at the annual Delabole wind fair. The Cornish windfarm came into operation in 1991, making it Britain’s first commercial windfarm. Each year the local community "celebrates renewable energy and all things sustainable" with a fair including microgeneration seminars, tours and a fete with local beers and a BBQ Photograph: PR

This turbine at Strangford Lough, in Northern Ireland, generates electricity from tidal streams and was plugged into the UK's national grid in July this year. The picture was entered into the competition by Gil Stevenson Photograph: Gil Stevenson/PR

The marine turbine uses a device called SeaGen and generates power at 150KW. When it is eventually running at full power, SeaGen is expected to have an output of 1,200 KW, enough to power about 1,000 homes Photograph: Gil Stevenson/PR

This picture, taken by Richard Yemm, is of the Pelamis wave devices that are being used in a wave power scheme that went live off the coast of Portugal earlier this year. The 140m-long tubes were 10 years in the making by Edinburgh-based company Pelamis Wave Power Photograph: PR