6| MANE ENERGY | AUGUST 2019
ARE WE DOING U-K?
The UK is one of the best locations for wind power in the world and is considered to be the best in Europe.
Back in 2018, eight new offshore wind farms were officially opened, bringing the annual total of new capacity to 2,121 megawatts (MW) nearly double the previous annual record of 1,154MW in 2012.
This near-doubling capacity was achieved with just 18% more
turbines than were installed in 2012, underlining the impressive
growth in turbine power in the last six years. Over the years
as turbines have developed it has led to the average capacity
of an offshore turbine to grow from 3.7MW to 5.8MW.
Wind power contributed to around 18% of UK electricity generation in 2018. By the end of
May 2019, the UK consisted of 9,851 wind turbines
with a total installed capacity of over 21.4
gigawatts: 12,995 megawatts of onshore
capacity and 8,483 of offshore capacity.
The UK is already a world-leader for offshore wind, with nearly 8GW installed. It’s also home to what will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, Hornsea Project One. Once completed in 2020, Hornsea One will produce enough energy to power one million homes. It’s located off the Yorkshire coast and will span a huge area of 407 kilometres, five times the size of the city of Hull.
Back in March the UK Government released an offshore wind sector deal – an agreement between industry members and government bodies which aims to generate nearly 30% of the UK’s electricity by wind power by 2030. This move will enable the UK towards the aim of getting almost all of its power from low-carbon sources. This plan will see around £250 million spent in the offshore wind industry over the next 10 years, creating thousands of jobs on the way.
This deal suggests that the UK could more than double its capacity to 30GW by 2030. If done so, the UK could in fact become a global leader in renewables, with more investment potential than any other country in the world.