UK now has over 20 GW of wind capacity

The UK has crossed the 20-GW mark for wind power capacity after the opening of the 659-MW Walney Extension offshore wind farm, RenewableUK said today.

Denmark's Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) inaugurated the Walney Extension project in the Irish Sea earlier this month. It is now the world's largest operational offshore wind farm, leapfrogging the 630-MW London Array facility.

The UK's current onshore and offshore capacity of 20,128 MW can meet the annual power demand of more than 14 million homes, while reducing carbon emissions by 25 million tonnes a year, the industry body estimates. Of that capacity, 12.2 GW is onshore and 7.9 GW offshore.

Since deployment of the country's first commercial onshore wind farm in 1991 and its first offshore wind project in 2000, wind capacity expanded slowly to 1 GW in 2005 and grew to 5 GW in 2010. Then it picked up steam and reached 10 GW in 2013 and 15 GW in early 2017, with another 5 GW added just in the last 21 months.

"It took 19 years to install the first 5GW of wind energy in the UK and we’ve now installed the same amount in under two years. That phenomenal growth shows just how quickly the UK is moving to a smart, low carbon power system and wind energy is at the heart of that," commented RenewableUK's executive director Emma Pinchbeck.

She added that consumers will miss out on low-cost power that will keep bills down as the government in not allowing onshore wind to compete for new power contracts, but expressed confidence that offshore wind alone can reach at least 30 GW by 2030.

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