The United Kingdom is a strong location for wind power in Europe. The combination of long coastline, shallow water and strong winds make offshore wind unusually effective.
By 2025, the UK had over 12,000 wind turbines with a total installed capacity of 32gigawatts (GW): 16 GW onshore and 16 GW offshore, the fifth largest capacity of any country. In that year, wind generated over 85 TWh of electricity, almost 30% of Great Britain's total generation.
Wind power is the largest source of renewable energy in the UK, but at under 5% provides far less primary energy than oil or fossil gas. However, wind power generates electricity, which is far more powerful in terms of useful energy than the same amount of thermal primary energy. Polling of public opinion consistently shows strong support for wind power in the UK, with nearly three-quarters of the population agreeing with its use in 2022, even for people living near onshore wind turbines.
The UK government has committed to a major expansion of offshore capacity to 60 GW by 2030, with 5 GW from floating wind; one reason for this is to improve energy security.
History
UK wind farm capacity by region (table of figures) UK Region Onshore wind capacityOffshore wind capacity 2015 (MW) 2020 (MW) 2015 (MW) 2020 (MW) 2025 (MW)Projected Scotland 5,413 7,543 174 889 2,743 N.W. England 111 193 1,087 2,005 2,005 N.E.England 116 170 62 102 102 Yorks & Humber 771 806 429 1,659 8,045 N. Ireland 365 472 0 0 0 Wales 448 936 726 726 726 East Midlands 56 56 464 464 1,321 Eastern 131 157 1,053 2,381 2,381 S.E. England 60 60 1,070 1,470 1,470 S.W. England 20 20 0 0 0UK Totals 7,491 10,414 5,064 9,695 18,792
The world's first electricity generating wind turbine was a battery charging machine installed in July 1887 by Scottish academic James Blyth to light his holiday home in Marykirk, Scotland. It was in 1951 that the first utility grid-connected wind turbine to operate in the United Kingdom was built by John Brown & Company in the Orkney Islands.Marianna Dudley, 'Limits of Power: Wind Energy, Orkney and the Postwar British State', Modern British History31:3 (2020), pp.316-339. https://doi.org/10.1093/tcbh/hwz024 In the 1970s, industrial scale wind generation was first proposed as an electricity source for the United Kingdom. An article on wind power costs from the period suggested that the capital cost per installed kilowatt would be in the range of £150 to £250, but that with inflation this would be competitive, and predicted that lower-cost new windmill designs would soon be available.
Modern commercial deployment began after electricity-market reforms around 1990. The Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO) created auction rounds that required electricity companies to buy output from non-fossil generators at a premium funded by a levy, and the first commercial wind farm in the UK was commissioned at Delabole in Cornwall in 1991.
In 2007 the United Kingdom Government agreed to an overall European Union target of generating 20% of the EU's energy supply from renewable sources by 2020. Each EU member state was given its own allocated target: for the United Kingdom it is 15%. This was formalised in January 2009 with the passage of the EU Renewables Directive. As renewable heat and renewable fuel production in the United Kingdom are at extremely low bases, RenewableUK estimated that this would require 35–40% of the United Kingdom's electricity to be generated from renewable sources by that date,McKenna, John. (8 April 2009) New Civil Engineer – Wind power: Chancellor urged to use budget to aid ailing developers. Nce.co.uk. to be met largely by 33–35gigawatts (GW) of installed wind capacity.
In December 2007, the Government announced plans for an expansion of wind energy in the United Kingdom, by conducting a Strategic Environmental Assessment of up to 25GW worth of wind farm offshore sites in preparation for a new round of development. These proposed sites were in addition to the 8GW worth of sites already awarded in the two earlier rounds of site allocations, Round1 in 2001 and Round2 in 2003. Taken together it was estimated that this would result in the construction of over 7,000 offshore wind turbines.
In 2010, 653MW of offshore wind came online. The following year, only one offshore wind farm, phase1 of the Walney Wind Farm, was completed in 2011 with a capacity of 183MW. On 28 December 2011 wind power set a then record contribution to the United Kingdom's demand for electricity of 12.2%.RenewableUK news article – Wind farms hit high of more than 12% of UK electricity demand . Bwea.com (6 January 2012).
2012 was a significant year for the offshore wind industry with 4large wind farms becoming operational with over 1.1GW of generating capability coming on stream. In the year July 2012 to June 2013, offshore wind farms with a capacity of 1.463GW were installed, for the first time growing faster than onshore wind which grew by 1.258 GW."Record-Breaking Year for UK Offshore Wind" Offshorewind.biz, 6 November 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2013. The offshore wind industry continued to develop in 2013 with what was once the largest wind farm in the world, the London Array, becoming operational with over 630MW of generating capability coming on stream.
During 2013, 27.4TWh of energy was generated by wind power, which contributed 8.7% of the UK's electricity demand.
On 1 August 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg opened the Lincs Offshore Wind Farm. On commissioning the total capacity of wind power exceeded 10GW of installed capacity. In 2014, Prime Minister David Cameron said that people were "fed up" with wind turbines being built close to homes; onshore wind subsidies were removed and in 2015 planning rules changed to give local authorities strong controls on wind turbine development, greatly reducing onshore deployment.
During 2014, 28.1TWh of energy was generated by wind power (an average of 3.2GW, about 24% of the 13.5GW installed capacity at the time), which contributed 9.3% of the UK's electricity requirement. In the same year, Siemens announced plans to build a £310million ($264million) facility for making offshore wind turbines in Paull, England, as Britain's wind power capacity rapidly expanded. Siemens chose the Hull area on the east coast of England because it is close to other large offshore projects planned in coming years. The new plant began producing turbine rotor blades in December 2016. The plant and the associated service centre, in Green Port Hull nearby, will employ about 1,000 workers.
During 2015, 40.4TWh of energy was generated by wind power and the quarterly generation record was set in the three-month period from October to December 2015, with 13% of the nation's electricity demand met by wind. 2015 saw 1.2GW of new wind power capacity brought online, a 9.6%increase of the total UK installed capacity. Three large offshore wind farms came on stream in 2015, Gwynt y Môr (576MW max. capacity), Humber Gateway (219MW) and Westermost Rough (210MW).
In 2016, the chief executive of DONG Energy (now known as Ørsted A/S), the UK's largest wind farm operator, predicted that wind power could supply more than half of the UK's electricity demand in the future. He pointed to the tumbling cost of green energy as evidence that wind and solar could supplant fossil fuels quicker than expected.Wind turbines 'could supply most of UK's electricity' The Guardian 8 November 2016
By 2020, climate change concerns led to greater public support for wind turbines, but despite government policy stating onshore wind is a "key building block" for electricity generation it was unclear if the 2015 onshore planning restrictions would be eased. In 2022 three-quarters of the UK population supported further wind generated power in the UK and the majority would be happy for a wind farm to be built near them.Three-quarters of Britons back expansion of wind power, poll reveals The Guardian
The current half-hour power record for wind generation in the UK is 23,880 MW, set on 25 March 2026 between 13:30-14:00.
+ UK wind power capacity and generationHover over individual cells for combined onshore and offshore totals. Year Cumulative capacity (MW) Generation (GWh) Capacity factor (%) Share of total electricity supplied (%) Onshore Offshore Onshore Offshore Onshore Offshore Onshore Offshore 2008 2,974 5,357 20.6 1.89 2009 3,468 951 7,529 1,754 27.4 26.0 2.60 2010 4,080 1,341 7,226 3,062 28.2 31.2 2.83 2011 4,758 1,838 10,814 5,149 28.2 37.8 4.58 2012 6,035 2,995 12,244 7,603 25.7 35.4 3.37 2.09 2013 7,586 3,696 16,925 11,472 27.6 37.6 4.82 3.27 2014 8,573 4,501 18,555 13,405 26.5 37.4 5.49 3.96 2015 9,212 5,094 22,852 17,423 29.5 40.5 6.73 5.13 2016 10,833 5,923 20,754 16,406 24.1 36.5 6.15 4.86 2017 12,597 6,958 28,725 20,916 27.0 40.9 8.61 6.27 2018 13,425 8,151 30,382 26,525 26.4 39.0 9.09 7.93 2019 13,998 9,856 31,860 31,975 26.4 40.1 9.62 9.65 2020 14,075 10,351 34,873 40,750 28.4 45.0 11.02 12.94 2021 14,493 11,176 29,327 35,597 23.5 37.8 9.16 11.17 2022 14,840 13,768 35,102 45,113 27.3 40.9 11.43 14.76 2023 15,424 14,653 32,496 49,650 24.3 40.4 10.63 16.33 2024 16,166 15,836 34,744 48,539 24.9 35.9 11.38 16.00 202516,43816,570 35,077 52,01924.636.7 12.1 17.9
Wind farms
Offshore
The total offshore wind power capacity installed in the United Kingdom at the start of 2022 was 11.3GW. The United Kingdom became the world leader of offshore wind power generation in October 2008 when it overtook Denmark. In 2013, the 175-turbine London Array wind farm, located off the Kent coast, became the largest offshore wind farm in the world; this was surpassed in 2018 by the Walney 3 Extension.
The United Kingdom has been estimated to have over a third of Europe's total offshore wind resource, which is equivalent to three times the electricity needs of the nation at current rates of electricity consumption (In 2010 peak winter demand was 59.3GW,National Grid Table of Indicative Triad Demand Information showing 7 January 2010 peak . Bmreports.com. in summer it drops to about 45GW). One estimate calculates that wind turbines in one third of United Kingdom waters shallower than would, on average, generate 40GW; turbines in one third of the waters between and depth would on average generate a further 80GW, i.e. 120GW in total. An estimate of the theoretical maximum potential of the United Kingdom's offshore wind resource in all waters to depth gives the average power as 2200GW.
The first developments in United Kingdom offshore wind power came about through the now discontinued Non-Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO), leading to two wind farms, Blyth Offshore and Gunfleet sands.RenewableUK – Offshore Wind Introduction . Bwea.com. The NFFO was introduced as part of the Electricity Act 1989 and obliged United Kingdom electricity supply companies to secure specified amounts of electricity from non-fossil sources,REPP report into Non-Fossil Fuel subsidies in the UK . Repp.org (30 June 1998). which provided the initial spur for the commercial development of renewable energy in the United Kingdom.
2001 saw 17 applications being granted permission to proceed in what has become known as Round1 of United Kingdom offshore wind development.
Offshore wind projects completed in 20102011 had a levelised cost of electricity of £136/MWh, which fell to £131/MWh for projects completed in 2012–14 and £121/MWh for projects approved in 20122014; the industry hopes to get the cost down to £100/MWh for projects approved in 2020.