This year marks the 30th year of wind energy generation in the UK. From 10 turbines in Cornwall, a site now owned by Good Energy, to the recent install of Ørsted’s 1000th, located in the North Sea. Here’s how we got there.
Infographic transcript:
All images are done in an illustrative style, with an isometric style.
- 1991
[image of 10 wind turbines]- 10 wind turbines went live at The Delabole, Cornwall.
- It was the 1st UK commercial wind turbine farm, owned by two landowners, who opted to use the site for wind over nuclear.
[image of a nuclear plant with a green circle and white question mark] - The site is now owned by Good Energy
[image of yellow logo circle with good energy]
- 1990 to 2015
[image of smart meter illustration with wind turbine in centre, and 21oC marked]- Wind generated 185,493 GWhs of electricity in the UK**
- As of June 2021
[image depicts a green side with tress and two small turbines on the left, with a blue sea on the right with 6 large turbines]- Wind generated over 65,913 GWhs/pa* from 10,961 turbines* across UK’s wind farms.
- Onshore – 8,669 turbines, 2,582 projects, with power potential of 13,747 MWhs daily
- Offshore – 2,292 turbines, 39 projects, with power potential of 10,415 MWhs daily
- Currently, enough energy to power 18,421,994 UK homes* each day
[image of small home with green roof, an electrical charging point outside next to a orange car] - Over two-thirds *** of all UK homes powered by wind, with a saving of 29.4million tonnes of CO2.
[image of 18 homes, 12 with green roofs and 6 with grey roofs] - Many offshore turbines generate enough power to energise one home with just one rotation.****
[image of a large turbine in a blue sea on the left, with green-roofed home on the right, with an electrical bolt above it. Next to a smaller turbine and a handful of trees] - Turbines in the sea are often much greater in size, while some onshore turbines are generating less than 1MW of energy. This is why offshore, with a third of the turbines, can generate nearly the same energy as their onshore cousins.
Data as of 24/06/21 UK | Copyright BiU Ltd
Good Energy logo used with permission
References:
* Renewable UK, www.renewableuk.com – data does not include wind turbine projects of less than 100kW generation.
** BEIS, Renewable sources used to generate electricity and heat; electricity generated from renewable sources 1990 to 2015 (DUKES 6.1.1)
*** Calculation based on approximately 27 million homes across the UK, 2020.
**** BBC News, Wind turbines: How UK wants to become ‘Saudi Arabia of wind’, www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-57519392
– CO2 information is from government data modelling
