Wind is one of the more common forms of renewable energy and has in fact been used for hundreds of years. UK wind power, however, is a largely unused resource. Currently, UK wind power consists of over 1430 wind turbines which collectively have the capacity to produce more than 1,315 MW of electricity – enough to power 735,000 homes.
That may sound like a great deal, but UK wind power only actually accounts for 1% of our electricity requirements. The UK has the largest wind resource in Europe but some other countries are already way ahead of us with up to 20% of their electricity supplied by wind power.
UK wind power is, however, in a period of growth according to the British Wind Energy Association. 2005 was a record breaking year for UK wind power and in July of that year the UK became one of only eight countries to break a 1 GW (gigawatt) of installed wind energy capacity. During 2005 446 MW of wind capacity were installed compared to 241 MW in 2004.
UK wind power currently consists of over 130 wind farms including more than 20 in offshore locations. There are a further 250 plus projects which are either in planning, have received consent or are already under construction. Please see the British Wind Energy Association for the latest data where you can also view interactive maps showing the locations of the existing and planned wind farms.
If you would like more information on anything relating to UK wind power, visit the British Wind Energy Association at www.bwea.com
Energy companies such as Powergen offer green tariffs which use renewable energy including wind power, and you can search for these tariffs on sites such as Uswitch and Compare Cheap Gas and Electricity.
For further Information on Wind Power click on the links below
