Wind Industry Hails New Era of Development (UK)

The wind industry is on track to power 1 in 10 homes by 2015, coming second only to natural gas as the largest single source of UK electricity by 2020. The latest projections, released by the trade association RenewableUK in its annual State of the Industry report, come during a record breaking year for wind power, both in terms of planning approvals and deployment.

From June 2011 to Sep 2012, the UK’s wind energy capacity grew by a quarter (1,825MW), with newly installed wind turbines generating new electricity up and down the country from Orkney to Suffolk.

For the first time in five years, the UK saw a rise in the amount of onshore wind capacity being approved at local level – with decision times 10% quicker than last year. This suggests that developers, communities and local government are working together better than ever before. This is demonstrated most significantly in England, where approved capacity at local level (i.e. for schemes below 50MW) increased from 25% in 2010/11 to 40% in 2011/12. In the UK, a record 1,701MW were consented onshore this year, compared to 1,142MW last year – a leap of nearly 50%. Offshore, 1,357MW were approved between July 2011 and July 2012.

RenewableUK Chief Executive Maria McCaffery said:

“We have taken significant strides forward – the evidence is laid out clearly in our State of the Industry report. 2011-12 saw overall capital investment in the offshore wind industry rise by 60% to £1.5bn and a record amount of onshore wind capacity approved. These strong figures underline the importance of a secure trading climate to attract investment, especially in difficult times. That’s why it’s so important that the framework provided by the Energy Bill, currently under parliamentary scrutiny, must be right. Although we still have a long way to go to meet our challenging targets, we are firmly on track and gathering momentum.”

In the last quarter of 2011, the proportion of electricity in the UK coming from renewables reached more than 10%, its highest proportion ever. Wind power contributed the majority of this and is expected to provide up to 7% of the UK’s electricity by the end of this year – taking the UK closer to the target of 15% of all energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Under current rates of progress the UK will have 13.5GW of wind capacity in operation (onshore and offshore) by the end of 2014, delivering 35TWh per year. The year on year figures are even stronger than previous years, with the industry’s current installed capacity standing at 7.4GW. This is more than 8 times as much capacity as the UK had installed in 2004, with much of the growth coming at a time when the economy has been shrinking overall.

The UK supply chain is reaping the benefits of a new era of development with firms of all sizes up and down the UK, from Orpington to Hartlepool, taking advantage of the domestic market as well as exporting to major European turbine manufacturers. To demonstrate the broad range of firms involved, this year’s State of the Industry Report includes examples of more than 75 companies around the UK in a Supply Chain Map.

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Press release, October 31, 2012; Image: DONG Energy