Wind Energy

Start up new windfarms combined with the UK’s unusually wet and windy weather at the start of the year – particularly storms Ciara, Dennis and Jorge – helped to generate record wind power generation.

Offshore windfarms powered the largest increase in renewable energy in the first quarter of the year, climbing by 53% compared with the previous year, while onshore wind generation grew by a fifth.

In total, wind power generated 30% of the UK’s electricity in the first quarter, beating the previous record of 22.3% set in the final months of 2019.

Rebecca Williams, of Renewable UK, said the renewable energy industry’s records were bound to be broken again in the years ahead as the government worked on “a massive expansion of renewables as part of the UK’s green economic recovery”.

Wind turbines produce varying amounts of energy depending on a wide range of factors. Some of the largest wind turbines can produce up to 12 MW of electricity. This is enough to power to around 16,000 households per turbine each year.

A good residential wind turbine should have a rated power output of between 2 kW and 10 kW. Turbines of this size have the potential to achieve electricity production of around 3,000 kWh to 15,000 kWh per year under the right conditions.