With the 2025 phase-out of coal power and an end to biomass subsidies by 2027, there is a real motivation for the UK to go all-in in their offshore wind investments. From 2009 to 2020, the installed wind capacity has already increased seven-fold. This leads the way for more wind energy in the UK.
According to the UK government, the practical goal is to build momentum and get 95% of all electricity from low carbon sources by 2030. Low carbon includes hydro, solar, and wind energy from renewables, plus nuclear, geothermal, and bioenergy.
How much of UK power is wind?
24% of all electricity produced in the UK in 2020 came from offshore and onshore wind farms. This number is much higher than other renewable sources, with biomass right up next, only 12%.
In 2020, adding up all the renewable sources in the UK–biomass, solar, wind, and hydro–the share of wind in electricity production is 42%, which is higher than coal and gas sources of electricity at 41%.
The cost of renewables has also dropped significantly in the past decade for onshore, solar, and offshore wind. Since 2015, offshore wind prices have notably dropped by as much as 65%.
The drop in prices, of course, is no coincidence. 3.9 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity were installed and commissioned between 2005 to 2015. In those years, offshore wind farms saw expansive developments from as low as 100 MW installations as Gunfleet Sands to ambitious ones such as the 630 MW London Array wind farm. In the past decade, the UK installed 24 GW of wind capacity offshore and onshore.
How many turbines are in the UK?
There are 11,094 turbines in the UK–8,797 onshore and 2,297 offshore.
UK onshore wind still has more installations, projects, and capacity compared to offshore. However, offshore has more wind speed and regular winds coming. In the coming decade, investments should improve drastically with a renewed focus by the government on wind power via offshore wind farms.
What percentage of UK energy is renewable in 2021?
2021 data from lowcarbonpower.org combines data from IEA, World Bank, BP, and other sources to determine the mix of sources of electricity for the UK. 51% came from low carbon, and 19% (37% of renewable electricity in the UK) of the total came from the wind.
Regarding terawatts, 64 terawatt-hours out of the 168.4 terawatt-hours, or 38%, utilized by the UK in 2021 came from onshore and offshore wind.
Why is wind energy good for the UK?
Wind produces 11g of carbon per kWh compared to 800g of coal and 400g of natural gas per kWh of electricity generation. Solar also makes much less, at 44g of carbon per kWh, but is still four times as much as wind.
The larger the offshore wind turbines, generally the efficiencies can get better. Nuclear can go lower at 8 g/kwh, but the GE Halide X turbine is an exception. The GE turbine, at 14 MW capacity, can produce as low as 6 g/kwh of carbon.
Compared to biomass, wind energy does not cut down entire areas of forests to produce clean electricity. Furthermore, wind energy also avoids ‘carbon debt.’ Carbon debt is the extended time it takes to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and offset the carbon released via energy or electricity production. Offshore wind power also benefits from stronger and more sustained winds in the sea.
How large is the Offshore Wind Market in the UK?
As wind farms continue to grow, the market also expands. The UK currently has the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea in the North sea–with an installed capacity of 1.2 GW. In 2020, the industry generated a turnover of £4.7 billion in the UK. England alone had a turnover of £3.8 billion in the same year.
Tier 1 contractors are primarily global companies like Siemens, Vestas, GE, Toshiba, Nexans, EEW SPFC, Bladt, and JDR cables. These major contractors have proven to deliver on large-scale projects, who then hire local contractors (Tier 2 and 3) for civil and engineering works and other specialist tasks.
The wind farm developers also build their operation and maintenance bases locally. They also locally hire maintenance contractors to handle their plants and operations. According to the Department of International Trade, the sub-sector that would expand the fastest second to turbine supply is operations and maintenance, valued at £1.3 billion annually by 2030.
The offshore wind sector directly hires 7,200 jobs for the UK, potentially strengthening the 420,000 jobs in the low carbon supply chains. The optimistic view from Offshore Wind Industry Council is that the sector can hire 97,645 direct and indirect jobs in 2030. The study, conducted in May 2022, shows a rapidly expanding industry with a broad need for a skilled workforce.
Why is wind energy the best for the UK?
Wind energy in the UK is a locally available resource, which would help the country avoid dependence on fossil fuel imports to power the economy.
The UK has long coastlines, with a shallow seabed and consistent winds. The northern area of the north sea, Scotland, and Northern Ireland are some areas with incredible wind speeds. The offshore wind that the UK can harness from the UK results from atmospheric activity in the North Sea, Irish Sea, and the Celtic Sea.
At sea, the winds are more consistent, and there is also the potential to go farther with floating platforms.
What is the Offshore Wind capacity in the UK?
The total offshore wind capacity in Europe is 28 GW, and 12.7 GW is in the UK. The offshore wind pipeline of the UK, combined with its installed capacity, is almost at 86 GW. This pipeline stretches out into the 2030s, with Crown Estate Scotland recently awarding 25 GW of potential energy from Scotwind in January 2022.
The pipeline includes all operational and the rest in development to gauge the portfolio’s overall size.
Globally, the UK leads all countries ahead of China. US comes third with 47 GW of offshore wind farms under development. The UK portfolio translates to 17% of the global portfolio. The market is expanding compared to 2021, when the UK owned 25% of the worldwide portfolio. This growth means that the world is catching up in developing offshore wind, while the UK remains at a steady pace.
Nonetheless, most countries still have to catch up to do with China’s wind industry, which has the most extensive portfolio of operational offshore wind farms at 24 GW.
In the mid-2020s, the operating capacity of the UK will reach 19.8 GW of installed capacity in the UK. This capacity includes commissioning the largest offshore wind farm in the world: Dogger Bank at 3.6 GW.
How much of Scotland’s power is wind?
Offshore wind capacity in Scotland is at 13.5%, while onshore capacity is at 71%–the largest amongst renewables at 8,709 megawatts. The dominance of onshore wind is credited to the largely unpopulated area of Scotland, as the country of less than 6 million has a little over 70,000 square kilometers of land.
Nonetheless, offshore had a 16% share of electricity generated by renewables in 2021, which is higher relative to its installed capacity. Onshore is at 63%, lower than its installed capacity of 71%. We can credit this to higher output from offshore wind turbines due to more substantial wind speeds.
Scotland also has excess wind power that it exports electricity from onshore wind farms to England. In 2016, Scotland accounted for 45% of electricity in England consumed from onshore wind farms.
On May 25, 2022, National Grid asked some wind farms to shut down and reduce the load by 25 MW because the grid could not cope with the electricity generated from the wind farms. Scotland also has the largest onshore wind farm in the UK, the Whitelee Windfarm, and it can generate 539 MW with its 215 wind turbines.
Scotland is also a net exporter of renewable energy, and the upcoming Scotwind projects will boost its economy. With the forthcoming Scotwind leasing round 2 in 2022, there is an opportunity to bring more electricity to England from Scotland.
How much electricity in Wales is renewable?
In 2020, 36% of electricity came from renewables. This is roughly equivalent to 10 terawatt-hours of electricity for 2020. Nuclear still contributes more to the grid at 56%.
Offshore wind farms of Wales contributing to these are Gwynt-y-Mor, Rhyl Flats, and North Hoyle, for 726 MW installed capacity. The three offshore wind farms produce an average of 2 terawatt-hours per year, based on energynumbers.info.
| Wales Wind Farm | Installed Capacity | Turbines |
|---|---|---|
| Gwynt-y-Mor | 576 MW | 160 |
| Rhyl Flats | 90 MW | 25 |
| North Hoyle | 60 MW | 30 |
How much of the electricity in England is renewable?
In 2020, 40% of electricity in England came from renewables or roughly 100 terawatt-hours. Compared to the 2021 output of low carbon electricity in the UK at 168 terawatt-hours, England consumed approximately 70% of renewable electricity in the UK.
England, however, consumes more electricity in the UK than it produces, so it imports some 10% of its electricity from Scotland. On the other hand, Scotland 2020 exported 37% of the electricity produced from the wind.
| Country | Share of Total Electricity |
|---|---|
| England | 40% |
| Scotland | 97% |
| Wales | 36% |
What is the potential for UK offshore wind energy to produce?
Offshore wind developments in the past years show promising results in producing renewable electricity. The 2021 Crown Estate offshore wind report shows good figures for the sector. With 36 terawatt-hours of electricity produced in 2021, offshore wind turbines account for more than half of the electricity produced from wind.
The general potential in the North Sea is also getting more prominent, with East Anglia 1, 2, and 3 expanding their capacity by an additional 310 MW.
The potential in the Celtic Sea is also being explored, with the floating Erebus Wind Farm in a position to realize the sea’s higher than average wind speeds. This farm will produce 96 MW of wind energy. The Erebus wind farm developers applied for marine license and development consent in late 2021.
Overall, the pipeline for development is optimistic. Data from Crown Estate shows that future leasing rounds will require plenty of private investment. The current operating 11 GW is only scratching the surface.
What are the government targets of the UK for wind energy?
EU energy goals post-Brexit no longer bound the UK government. Still, the country committed to reducing emissions by 68% in 2030. The country also aims for net zero by 2050.
Boris Johnson had set a 40 GW offshore wind target for 2030 in 2019. The 2022 war in Ukraine forced the UK to increase this target to 50 GW. The government will also phase out coal power plants by 2025.
The best-case scenario is to improve the environment while shortening the process. To do this, the UK government also committed to reducing the time to obtain a development consent order from four years to one. The shorter timeline might signal future changes in assessing environmental impact.
Who are the major energy companies in UK offshore wind sector?
Orsted leads the way in the UK offshore wind sector, owning 24% of the equity in UK offshore wind projects. Vattenfall follows at 13%, SSE Renewables, at 12%, Iberdrola at 11%, and Innogy (8%).
| Wind Energy Company | UK Offshore Wind Sector Share |
|---|---|
| Orsted | 24% |
| Vattenfall | 13% |
| SSE Renewables | 12% |
| Iberdrola | 11% |
| Innogy | 8% |
| Others | 32% |
What does the Crown Estate own?
Crown Estate manages the leasing rounds so interested developers can bid for the seabed rights to develop an offshore wind farm. The Crown Estate owns the seabed rights in the UK and ensures that the bidding process is competitive.
The latest round is Scotwind, where 25 GW of potential capacity from developers was awarded in January 2022 to successful bidders, which included ten floating wind farm projects. A second round for Scotwind is also set for the latter part of 2022.
Who owns the transmission system in the UK?
The transmission system operator for the UK grid is the National Grid Electricity Transmission plc. The national grid also owns the transmission lines and substations in Wales and England. Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) own Scotland’s transmission lines.