UK reaches wind milestones: 20GW installed capacity and a third of energy mix

The UK’s offshore and onshore wind energy industry reached an historic milestone this week, surpassing 20GW of installed energy capacity, as well as wind energy making up almost a third of the nation’s energy mix.

The country’s total wind capacity was reported by RenewableUK yesterday to have reached 20,128MW (both onshore and offshore), which the organisation stated is sufficient to power more than 14mn homes and to cut carbon emissions by 25mn tonnes per year.

The capacity milestone has largely been put down to work on Ørsted’s Walney wind farm which opened officially following its expansion earlier this month. The project now has 87 turbined with a capacity of 659MW, and is located in the Irish Sea.

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Emma Pinchbeck, executive director of RenewableUK stated: “It took 14 years to install the first 5GW of wind energy in the UK and we’ve now installed the same amount in under two years. That phenomenal growth shows just how quickly the UK is moving to a smart, low carbon power system and wind energy is at the heart of that.”

In addition, Renewables Now reported that on Sunday 16th September, wind farms in the UK produced a 27.44% share of total power for the country.

In total, 153,923MWh of electricity was produced in the UK on Sunday, which also made it the second-largest source in the energy mix. The only source which produced more power was nuclear, while combined cycle gas turbines made up 25% and coal made up just 6.29%.