A bumper crop of more than 1,200 new wind turbines will spring up throughout Britain’s countryside over the next twelve months. Onshore there are 763 onshore wind turbines slated to be erected this year, adding to the 4,366 already in operation and harvesting the wind. If you add those turbines that have been approved, but not yet erected, the total comes to a whopping 10,000 that may make other European countries green with envy!
When the wind is at optimum levels, 10% of Britain’s energy comes from the wind- 8.4Gw or enough to power 4.5 million homes for a year. Impressive! In fact, in 2012 the number of wind farms approved by Britain’s local Councils went up for the first time in five years. This despite protests about them being blots on the landscape.
RenewableUK said:
“This welcome trend is coupled with continued strong support for wind energy, with two-thirds of the population in favor of continued development of wind energy. What is more, this support rises in rural areas.”
They welcomed the figures which show that the UK is moving up the European league table in terms of wind energy capacity. However, this surge in wind turbines may be due to firms wanting to get their turbines operational before an impending subsidy cut. Nevertheless, the UK Government is committed to generating 13GW with onshore wind turbines by 2020. The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) has unveiled new figures showing that the UK now has 8.4 gigawatts of wind energy installed, overtaking France and Italy. Which are the top wind energy producers in Europe? Germany is at the top with 31.3GW and Spain is second with 22.8GW. The EWEA said that the UK installed 1.9 GW in 2012 – 16% of all new wind capacity in Europe.
Looking at the picture across Europe, renewable energy represented 69% of all new power capacity in Europe in 2012, while coal, oil and nuclear capacity continued to decline due to decommissioning.
These statistics indicate that despite tough global economic conditions the UK is very much a leading player in the wind industry and provided the coalition and cross-party support can be maintained, should achieve its 2020 targets. The Energy Bill, due later in 2013, will be a very important factor in the continuing development of UK’s wind industry. The current impetus must be maintained and any signals of a lack of enthusiasm from Members of Parliament could have a becalming effect.
In the last few days, Ed Davey, the UK energy and climate change secretary has given the green light to 22 turbines at Heckington Fen in Lincolnshire, making it the fourth largest onshore wind farm in England.
